


ZPS-14

by bertglamga



Category: The Walking Dead (Comics), The Walking Dead (TV), The Walking Dead (Video Games), The Walking Dead - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-03
Updated: 2014-11-15
Packaged: 2018-02-23 23:10:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 17
Words: 33,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2559218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bertglamga/pseuds/bertglamga
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a story about a group of survivors, trying to make their way in the world, losing friends here and gaining friends there.  They start out in Georgia, travel across much of the USA, and eventually end up in Europe thanks to people they met!  The title is a reference to the way this story was created, and thus why ALL CHARACTERS ARE BASED LOOSELY ON REAL PEOPLE/TWD CHARACTERS.  </p><p>DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction. All characters and incidents are products of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual people or events is coincidental or fictionalized. No attack or violation on any real person's character is intended.</p><p>WARNING: There will be inappropriate language, including cuss words and racial/gender/sexuality slurs. No harm or offense is meant, as the slurs are used solely to demonstrate the characters of people who use them. Further, there will be sex scenes, but they will not be thoroughly detailed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. End

**Author's Note:**

> This is a story I've had around for a while. It's been in quite a simple format, but I've recently decided to make it an actual story. The title is a reference to the game that this is based off of.
> 
> This story is based off of a game I play with my friends, so it involves TWD characters, real people, and the occasional OC that I'll put in in order to move the story along or create drama. Any characters from TWD may be slightly OOC in order to fill a role, or because their personality needs to mesh with the group more, or sometimes less. Facts about who they are, who they're with, what they do, what they've gone through, or most commonly where they lived or live now will be changed. Many characters may be based on famous people, at least physically, as I do not know them personally, and cannot write on their behalf or their actual personality. Names of actual people may be edited to protect their identity.
> 
> I'll be publishing this story as I write it, and the chapter I post will usually be about four chapters behind the one I'm currently working on. Be warned, all chapters are subject to editing, though usually minor, just to fit in with certain aspects I later have, or because I want to change something. Like to change a tone of a certain part, or how a character may react to something. Or, just general editing (fixing spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, etc).
> 
> Without further ado, here is my story, "ZPS-14."

Day 1

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


It was June 3rd, 2016.  A group of friends would soon become a group of survivors.  They had just graduated high school in Hobbs, New Mexico, and were celebrating with a road trip across the United States.  They were four eighteen-year-olds with a lot of ambition.  Driving the car was Robert Hutchins, a thoughtful young man who was basically the leader of the group.  He was slender, brunet, and had stunning green eyes.  Next to him in the passenger seat was his best friend, Lily King, who was a very smart, short girl who was quite talented at telling jokes.  In the back seat was two girls, LaRissa and Lyrik.  LaRissa Masterson was a moderately funny girl with high hopes for her future, wanting to go into nursing.  Lyrik Bernthal was a black girl obsessed with music, pop culture, and being right.

The foursome was justing coming from Dallas, Texas, after having spent the last few days there.  They were just arriving in Senoia, Georgia, headed for Atlanta, and they were running low on gas.  Robert pulled into the first convenience store they found, a quaint little blue and white building on a crowded block in the middle of the city.  “All right,” he said, “LaRissa, you stay here and pump.  I’m gonna go in and get drinks, do you guys want anything?”

“Um..” Lyrik started, “I’ll just go in with you.”

“Me too,” Lily replied.

“You know what I want.  Just coffee,” LaRissa told Robert.

Robert nodded his head, and they all exited the car.  LaRissa readied the pump and went right to her phone, texting friends and family and playing Candy Crush.

Lily, Lyrik, and Robert entered the gas station and immediately split off.  Robert went for the coffee, getting himself and LaRissa one.  For himself, a large caramel espresso.  For LaRissa, a large French vanilla frappe.

Lily went to the fridges in the back to get a drink, and Lyrik went straight for the candy.  “No Faygo!” Lily moaned loudly.

After the coffees were filled, Robert met Lily in the drinks section.  “Should I get water or Sprite?” she asked.

“Well, whatever you do, don’t get that,” Robert said, pointing to an orange liquid with red and yellow chunks floating around in it, looking like bottled vomit.

“Ew,” Lily said.  “I think I’ll just get Sprite.”  Lyrik came around the counter, her left arm incapacitated, filled with candy, Skittles and Nerds falling out from between her fingers.  She bent over and grabbed a Dr. Pepper, encumbering the last free limb she had.  Robert and Lily rolled their eyes jokingly at her.

The three went for the counter to check out with their items.  Lyrik dumped her armful of candy onto the counter in front of the only cashier on shift.  He was a middle-aged Latino with squinty brown eyes and lots of prison-style tattoos, but was pretty short for a guy his age.  His nametag read “Javier, yo.”  Lyrik seemed to be very attracted to him, judging by the way the two were eyeing each other up.   

As he was ringing them up, a scrawny man with wild blonde hair and big green eyes burst through the doors and ducked into the closest aisle.  The expression on his face was of pure horror.  “Get down!” he yelled to them, to which the cashier and Robert lifted their brows.  As the cashier was about to speak, presumably to ask him to leave, a shrill scream was heard outside.  LaRissa had fallen, her leg tangled in the gas pump.  Her phone was lying in front of her, cracked into pieces, and she was struggling to free her leg as a group of crazy-looking people approached.  Some were missing fingers, walking with a limp, or had huge, open gashes on their bodies with blood staining their clothes and skin.  There must have been at least twenty of them, and they were pretty close to LaRissa.

“What the fuck are those?” Lily asked as Robert and Lyrik ran to the door to help LaRissa.

“No!” Screamed the man cowering in the aisle.  Robert and Lyrik staggered in shock, and he jumped in front of the door, blocking the way of anyone trying to get in or out.  “They’re monsters.  I heard someone call them walkers.  They’re like mutations of humans or something.  Whatever they are, they’re dangerous.  I barely escaped them,” he said as he pulled up his dirty sleeve, revealing a huge gash on his left arm.  “They bit me.  Their want is to eat.  They don’t think, or care in any way.  I should know.  My girlfriend did this to me.”

Everyone else looked on in horror.  Lily and Javier looked like they were about to puke.  “You’re going to die, aren’t you?” Lyrik asked him.

“I don’t know,” he said, looking quite sad.

“What’s your name?” Robert asked him.

“Jackson, but that doesn’t matter.  What matters is that you don’t go outside!  And that she doesn’t get in!  She’s on her own now.  If those things - those walkers - see us, we’re dead!”

“We can’t just leave her out there!” Lyrik said.  Our attention was drawn back to outside, as LaRissa had freed her leg and was nearly at the doors.  She went to the handle and the doors opened slightly, but then Jackson threw his weight back onto them.  LaRissa peeked in and saw the man, and looked past him to us.  She screamed to get him off and to let her in.  Lily didn’t budge, believing the strange man.  She wasn’t about to get herself killed.  Robert thought that Jackson’s words held some weight, as well, but he and Lyrik did their best to get the man off the doors.

“No!” Jackson yelled, grabbing a display case full of lighters and flinging them at the two.  “I’m sorry, but you don’t know what you’re doing!  Would you rather one die, or all of us die?!”

“I’d prefer if none of us died,” Robert said.  He looked to the cashier, “Are you just going to stand there the whole time or are you going to do something?!”  He looked to Lily, continuing.  “Help us!”

The man behind the desk looked nervous and bolted to the back, opening a door to outside and escaping.  Lily watched and took a step towards the door, but couldn’t leave her friends like this.  She began trying to get to Jackson as well.

The walkers outside were getting dangerously close to LaRissa as she was putting all of her weight against the doors.  She grew desperate, and began banging her fists against the windows of the door, hoping to knock out the glass and get in.  The walkers could now reach out and touch her.  Finally, the three were able to get Jackson off the doors, and LaRissa fell to the ground as her weight swung the doors open.

Trying to get herself up, a walker fell on top of her, and she screamed in panic.  She scrambled, trying to get to her feet, but the walker chomped down into her right leg, pulling out veins and muscles, viciously digging into her calf.  Robert and Lyrik dragged her in while Lily and Jackson kicked at the walker on top of LaRissa, flinging it back into the crowd of walkers.  Lily, Lyrik, and Jackson tried closing the door again, but the weight of about twenty walkers wasn’t helping much.  Robert was on the ground attempting to help LaRissa, and told Lyrik to run and get stuff to help LaRissa out while he did his best with what was near him.  Quickly, she bolted off into the aisles, searching frantically for something help LaRissa with.  Lily and Jackson were struggling to keep the doors closed.  The wild-looking man told Lily to hold onto the doors while he gets something to put against them.  Lyrik returned to Robert with bandages and alcohol.  Robert did his best to use the bandages to stop the bleeding, as she was making hemorrhaging blood and was now barely conscious.  She was now barely conscious.  Suddenly, the doors burst open and Lily fell to a knee, scraping it open, but quickly got up and screamed, “We have to go!  Now!”

Jackson was dragging the ice cream fridge to the doors when Lily fell, and he cursed under his breath.  He ran to LaRissa, and helped Lily and Lyrik get a good hold on her.  Jackson told them to go on without him.  Robert refused to let him go, but Jackson jumped into the crowd of walkers.  They began devouring him, and Lyrik and Lily could only watch in horror.  “Come on!” Robert yelled, and they stumbled out of the back doors, Robert running ahead to find help.  They went down the alley in the opposite way that the walkers were coming from and made it to the door.  They struggled to keep LaRissa up, and two walkers had followed them out of the backdoor by the time they were halfway down the alley.  When they made it to the street, LaRissa fell, and the walkers were coming quickly.  A car was coming down the street, and Robert and Lily went to go stand in front of it.  It stopped and Robert opened the back door as Lily went back to Lyrik to help LaRissa back up and out of the alley.  Walkers were beginning to appear on other sides of the streets, as well.

Robert opened the back door and saw that the back seat was filled with groceries, and he pushed them to the floorboard.  “Hey!” said the old man driving.  “What are you doing?!”

“My friend is hurt and we need help.  If anything back here got damaged, I’ll pay you back.  Just take us to the hospital.”

Robert ran back to help them carry LaRissa, and Lyrik got in first.  The three cooperated to gently get LaRissa in next to Lyrik, and the bitten girl’s torso fell limply onto Lyrik.  Robert jumped into the passenger seat as Lily tried her best to gently get LaRissa further in so she could get in as well.  They took off with walkers all around them, headed to the hospital.

“Thanks, sir,” Robert said.  “My name’s Robert Hutchins.  That’s Lily,” he gestured to them, “that’s Lyrik, and my hurt friend there is LaRissa.  What’s your name?”

The man looked a bit nervous, unsure of what exactly what was going on.  “H-Hershel,” he stuttered out, “Hershel Greene.  So, if you don’t mind me asking, what happened to your friend, there?”

“I’m not exactly sure,” Robert said.  “A crazy man locked her out of this convenience store we were in, and those things back there, ‘walkers’ he called them, there were more of them.  A lot of them.  One fell on top of her, and bit into her.  She nearly died of blood loss, but we managed to get the bleeding to stop before the doors burst open and we had to bolt.”

The car swerved around a corner, dodging a walker in the road.  Just a few blocks farther and they were in front of the Senoia hospital.  There were people inside in police uniforms shooting at the ravaged people, which were everywhere.  “Fuck!” exclaimed Lily.  “Looks like we need to go somewhere else.  Or find a doctor.”

A random hit of kindness, Hershel opened up to them.  “I’m a veterinarian.  We can go back to my farm outside of town and I can help your friend there.”

“Thank you so much,” Lyrik said to him.

“Just don’t make me regret this,” he said, looking up in the rearview mirror to them.

They made it to his farm about twenty minutes later, and were met at the driveway by his son, Shawn, and two daughters, Maggie and Beth.  Shawn asked what happened, and Hershel told him to help us get LaRissa inside.  He picked her up, and Hershel and Robert’s group followed.  Maggie and Beth were told to get the groceries from the car and to bring them  inside.

When they entered, LaRissa was laid onto the couch, and Hershel’s wife approached from the kitchen.  “Honey, what’s happening?  Who are these people?  We already have guests over, dear.”  In the kitchen was two fat men and an old lady who looked oddly like Beth. One of the fat men resembled Maggie, and had moderately long, deep black hair. The other one was wearing camouflage, with stubbly, balding hair. He was sat next to his aging blonde wife. They looked on in worry and confusion.

“Hello, Otis.  Patricia.  Arnold,” Hershel said in a rush.  They nodded, feigning smiles, still looking confused.  “Annette, get me some peroxide and fresh bandages,” he said to his wife.  She turned to the couple at the kitchen table, smiled politely, and excused herself to go upstairs.  She came back down shortly afterwards and they tried to help LaRissa.

After doing the best they could for LaRissa, Hershel invited Robert, Lily, and Lyrik to join them for dinner.  The three were all quite taken by Shawn, as he was very handsome and kind.  Otis and Patricia left shortly after to their home in town.  Annette and Hershel apologized for ruining their night, and they talked about the monsters that hurt LaRissa and apparently killed a man that Robert and his friends had met that day.  Otis and Patricia thought they might be lying, but Hershel vouched for them, seeing the strange people himself.  Annette suggested that they might just be sick people desperate for help.

After a few hours, LaRissa remained unconscious, and Hershel decided they should move her to a bedroom.  He invited the teenagers to stay the night with him, and gave them rooms to sleep in.  Robert got a room of his own, while Lyrik and Lily shared a room.


	2. Easy

Day 2

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


The next morning, Robert woke up to the smell of homemade eggs and bacon, a scent he hadn’t smelled in many years.  For a moment, he thought that he was at his grandma’s house, and that she had made him breakfast.  He then remembered everything that had happened.  How that man had died.  How LaRissa had been bitten.  And that he and his friends were now living under the roof of strangers on a farm in the middle of nowhere.

Robert was average height, at about 5’9”.  He was quite thin, after years of hard work and being taunted by his peers. His interests were all about the internet and his friends.  He valued those around him very much.

Robert raised out of bed and was about to put on the clothes he wore yesterday, but he was surprised to see that they were gone.  In their place were fresh clothes.  He put them on and went downstairs, where he saw Annette and Beth working at the stove, while Hershel was at the table reading a newspaper, with Shawn and Arnold sitting next to him.  Hershel looked over to see Robert standing at the stairs and smiled.  “Good morning, son!  Did you sleep well?”  Robert nodded, giving a slight smile in return.

“I see you found my clothes,” said Shawn.  “I have way too many anyway, and since you lost all your luggage yesterday, we decided it wouldn’t be any harm to lend you all some clothes.  Beth and Maggie donated some of their clothes to your friends.”  Shawn looked to be in his mid to late twenties, and had stunning eyes of hazel.  His smile was enticing, and he looked very friendly.  His dad was almost the opposite, fat and wrinkly, with squinty, dark eyes.  According to Maggie discussing his birthday a few weeks back, he was 72.  Arnold was a very plump, nerdy-looking man, who seemed a bit shy.  He was Maggie’s cousin.  Hershel’s first wife was named Josephine, and he had Maggie with her.  She died sometime later, and he remarried to Annette, who had Shawn from a previous marriage.  The two then had Beth.  Arnold was Josephine’s brother Jonathan’s son, and was visiting for the summer.

Annette, their mother, was pretty for her age.  She had very long brown hair that went to her lower back, though most often it was up in a bun.  She must have been about fifty.  Beth was a very attractive girl, just like her older sister Maggie.  Beth had long blonde hair and was quite scrawny and weak-looking.  Maggie was the opposite, with short brunette hair, and seemed to be more fit, with a very shapely figure.

Robert joined the men at the table, making small talk.  Lily and Lyrik came down the stairs about twenty minutes later, dressed in fresh clothes that seemed a bit long on them.  Both of them were quite short, while Beth and Maggie were much taller.  Lily was a very short girl with a bit of meat on her and mid-length brunette hair.  Lyrik was almost a mirror image in terms of proportions, except she was dark-skinned with quite short, nappy, black hair.

Seeing them made Robert remember LaRissa, who was as plump as the other two girls, but was just as tall as Robert and had long, reddish-brown hair.  “How’s LaRissa doing?” he asked.

Hershel seemed to remember something as well, and he half-smiled at Robert.  “Go see for yourself,” he said.  Robert looked to Lyrik and Lily and the three ran upstairs to LaRissa’s room.  She was awake.  She was still quite weak, but she was eating and drinking.

Though obviously in pain, LaRissa smiled at them as they came in.  “Guys, hey,” she said.  They smiled back at her.  “I know I don’t look so good-”

Lily laughed to herself.  “Don’t look so good now?  Should have seen yourself before this happened!”  Robert and Lyrik looked to Lily, slightly shocked she couldn’t keep her humor to herself at a time like this.

LaRissa half-smiled weakly.  “But thank you so much for helping me out, bringing me here.  I’d be dead if you guys didn’t do anything.”

Looking at her, Robert was getting concerned.  Even though Hershel had helped fix the bite wound, LaRissa still didn’t look very good.  She looked even more ill than when they arrived.  Robert thought to himself, You’re dead anyways, but smiled at her, and reassured her, “Of course.  We’re best friends.”

Annette walked in and told them that LaRissa needed her rest, and that Hershel could use their help.  She smiled at LaRissa as she closed the door behind them and led them back to the kitchen.  As they were eating, they spoke solemnly about LaRissa. “I'm just sayin’,” Lyrik said, "I’m pretty sure LaRissa’s not gonna make it.”

Hershel took them outside and showed them around his land.  He asked if Robert’s group were willing or able in any way to help out around here while they stayed.  They all agreed to help with anything Hershel needed, whether it be helping to take care of LaRissa or helping with the animals.  Robert then volunteered to help with the farming, realizing that Hershel probably had more things in mind for us to do than to laze around until someone or something gets sick.  Lily quickly caught on and joined, as well.  Hershel smiled at them and nodded his head.

“Great,” he said.  “For now, let’s go back and tidy up a spare bedroom or two.  We have a few people movin’ in, and we should make room for everybody.  They can’t live in town anymore.  It’s way too dangerous with all the walkers around.  People turnin’ left and right.”  They nodded politely, only being able to imagine what being surrounded by what they experienced yesterday at all times would be like.  They all turned and went back to the house to make room.

 

 

Due to the new additions to the household, Robert was forced to move in with LaRissa.  LaRissa had come down with a very heavy fever later that day, and couldn’t move at all without experiencing crippling pain.  That night, Robert was sitting next to LaRissa in her bed, and he was talking to her as she drifted to sleep about how they should get back on the road soon, to get back to Hobbs, assuming that the walkers were disposed of, having seen very few here in Hershel’s secluded lands.

“We should get back on the road as soon as we can,” Robert said, looking down to meet LaRissa’s eyes, but they were closed.

“I’m sorry,” LaRissa forced out.

“Don’t be.  It’s not your fault that psychopath - what was it, Jackson? - put you in danger.  To be honest, I’m kind of glad he’s dead now.”  Robert looked back down at her.  She was so pale.  She looked very weak.  If she didn’t start getting better soon, this might be the end for her.  He looked away, out of the window, watching clouds roll in.  “You’re going to make it,” he said, trying to reassure himself more than he was her.

After a long silence, her wheezing breath faded out.  Robert’s breath caught.  He slowly looked to her, hoping she was simply yawning, or stretching.  Of course, she wasn’t.  She wasn’t breathing at all.  Robert began to panic.  He began shaking her, and she was so frail, so weak.  He put his ear to her chest.  Nothing.

Robert got off the bed and ran to Hershel’s bedroom door.  He pounded his fists against the wood.  “Hershel!  Annette!  Get up, I need you right now!”

“Just a second, I’m coming!” Hershel yelled through the closed door.

“I think LaRissa’s dead!” Robert screamed, running back to LaRissa.  Hershel came out a few moments later dressed in blue flannel pajamas with some serious bed head, followed by Annette, wearing only her underwear with a yellow robe over them.  They rushed into LaRissa and Robert’s room, and checked for vitals.  Seeing no response, Hershel decided to try CPR.  

Despite all of their attempts, Hershel got no response.  He pronounced her as dead, and lifted the sheet over her head.  Robert grabbed his stuff and decided to bunk with Lily and Lyrik that night, not wanting to sleep next to the dead body of one of his closest friends.

“I hate to say it, but I told you so,” Lyrik said.  Lily rolled her eyes, noticing Robert was very upset.

“Come on, Lyrik, really?” Lily questioned angrily.  “We all know you don’t hate to say that.  But this is not the time for that shit.”

Robert ignored the whole conversation, and rolled over on the bed they made him on the floor, facing away from them.  He cried himself to sleep, thinking about all the things he hadn’t gotten to say to her.  How much she must have suffered before she finally just let go.  How her last words were “I’m sorry.”  The entire situation was awful, and he couldn’t believe that LaRissa was dead!  This had to be a dream.  This was unreal.  Lily and Lyrik did their best to comfort him, to the point that they both began to cry, too.  Tonight, they lost a true friend, and they would never forget it.


	3. Turned

Day 3

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


It was a dark, warm summer night.  Clouds were heavily rolling in, making the dark night even darker.  It was about 4:00 A.M., about an hour and a half before anyone usually woke up in the house.  A loud thud was heard from LaRissa’s room that woke up Annette.  At first she thought it was Robert getting up for something, but then she remembered that Robert went to bed with Lily and Lyrik.  Annette slowly sat up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.  She slipped on her favorite, mauve pink robe off of the coat hanger by her bed.  She loved to collect robes and had a row of them.  Baby blue, yellow, black, white, pastel green, flannel, red just for Hershel, and her favorite one that her mother gave her for her birthday many years ago: mauve pink.

She made her way to LaRissa’s room and put her ear against the door, thinking someone could have went in there to be with her, or to claim something of hers now that she’s dead.  After hearing only what sounded like soft moaning, she called out.

“Hello?  Is anyone in there?”  Her words were met by an even louder growl, and what sounded like footsteps towards the door.  “LaRissa?”

Another groan was made in reply.  Annette smiled widely.  LaRissa’s awake!  It’s a miracle! she thought to herself.  She opened the door quickly, arms wide open to hug LaRissa, but all too late, Annette realized that LaRissa was very pale, and was baring her teeth at her.  She screamed, and fell backwards.  As she fell, LaRissa swiped at her, and grabbed onto her robe’s sleeve, dragging the undead girl down, too.  LaRissa fell onto Annette and she screamed again, trying hard to push against LaRissa’s weight.  Hershel opened the door to his bedroom investigating the screams, and saw the fresh walker on his wife, and went back to search his closet for his gun.  

Though she put in her best effort, Annette was quite a frail, old woman, and she soon lost her ability to fight against LaRissa’s weight.  LaRissa bit right into Annette’s cheek, eating at her flesh.  A hole was left in place of where the old woman’s left cheek once was.  LaRissa continued eating, swallowing down the nose and going for more.

Hershel finally arrived with the shotgun, and pretty much everyone who was asleep was now awake, standing in the hall, witnessing the horrific event.  Patricia screamed in horror, burying her face into Otis’s chest.  Beth tried running to her mother, but Jimmy held her back.  Hershel drew back a tear, and aimed his shotgun at LaRissa’s chest, but she continued eating.  He gasped, and took a step backwards in shock.  Annette was now dead underneath LaRissa.  LaRissa looked up and growled at him.

The growl provoked Hershel.  He glared at LaRissa.  His eyes were filled with rage.  This creature, no longer a person, attacked his wife, attacked his family.  He stood up, holding back more tears and shot the walker again in the neck, and when that failed, he shot her between the eyes.  She fell, and he knew what he had to do.  He pointed his gun down at Annette, unconscious.  He shot her right in the head, doing his best to remain composed.

He looked up.  Robert, Lyrik, Patricia, and Beth were in tears.  Otis, Lily, Arnold, Maggie, Jimmy, and Shawn looked on in disbelief, pure shock.  “Let’s get this cleaned up,” Hershel said in a shaky, yet firm voice.

Maggie took LaRissa’s sheets off of her bed, and handed them both to Hershel.  Shawn and Hershel lifted Annette’s body up and wrapped it in the sheet, and then they repeated it with LaRissa.  The two lifted Annette up and carried her downstairs.  As they were going down, Hershel instructed Arnold and Otis to grab LaRissa’s body.  They carried the two outside to the front steps and into a wheelbarrow they used for gardening.  Shawn pushed them to a nice spot in the field, underneath two big trees.  Otis and Shawn began digging graves.

  
  


Later that day, when the two were done, a funeral was held.  Their bodies were lowered into the graves and buried.  Hershel conducted the funeral.  “Today, we’re here to mourn the loss of two kind individuals.  Annette Greene, my dear wife, and LaRissa Masterson, a dear friend.  Though the body is withered.. or maimed, the soul lives on.  They are with God now, looking down to us,”  Hershel looked up, into the only clear spot of sky through the clouds.  He shed a tear, and looked back down.  “I’m sorry,” he whispered.  He composed himself, and looked up.  “Does anyone have any words they’d like to share?”

Surprisingly, Beth stepped forward first.  Her boyfriend, Jimmy, loosed his hold of her, and let her go forward.  “A long time ago, I was told a beautiful poem by one of my friends in school.  I wrote that poem down because it was so beautiful.  I want to share it with you all.  I want to share it with you, mom.”

Beth looked up, and closed her eyes.  She moved her head back towards the graves, eyes still closed.  She reached into her pocket, and pulled out the piece of paper. She opened her eyes, looking as though it were painful to open them.  To accept her mother’s fate.  She began to recite the poem.

 

“Every time that I smile,

Every time that I sigh,

I think of your face,

And a tear escapes my eye.

 

You were my world,

My inspiration and my heart,

But when you left me,

I thought I would fall apart.

 

You were my best friend,

My one true 'confidante',

And that's not all you were,

You were also my mom.

  
  


I didn't want to live without you,

But you would have wanted me to,

And if there's anyone I want to make happy,

That anyone is you.

 

I would have given anything to have you back,

But I know now that it was meant to be,

For you are still watching from up there,

And I know you're watching me.

 

I'll make you proud mom,

I'm going to fulfill your wish,

You're going to see me and smile,

That's a daughter's promise.”

 

She folded the paper back up, and clutched it in her fist.  Nearly everyone was crying, or on the verge of it.  The Greenes were a mess, weeping into one another, Shawn and Maggie hugging each other tightly.  Beth turned back to Jimmy, who went to give her a big hug, but she rejected him.

Hershel again was letting his emotions overcome him.  Through his weeping, he said, “Anyone else?”

Robert stepped forward, looking a bit nervous.  “I don’t have a beautiful poem, or any memorized or planned thing to say.  But I have my memories.  The sentiments and love.  I just wanted to speak on behalf of LaRissa, since not many of you here knew her very well.  And sadly, now you never will get the chance to.  LaRissa was a good person.  Sometimes, her intent may have been to seem better than she thinks she is, trying to overcompensate for what she doesn’t need to.  Doubting herself every step of the way.  But everything she did, she did with a good heart.  She meant well at all times.  Never did she attack or hurt a person that hadn’t wronged her in some way.  She didn’t deserve to die.  Not this early.  She had so much to live for.  Though she won’t be able to live further, she will always be on my mind.  I will never forget her.  And I hope none of you do, either.  Thank you.”

Robert stepped back, and Lily wrapped her arm into his to let him know she was there for him.  Hershel, now much more composed, nodded to everyone, signalling for someone else to speak if they wish to.  When no one did, he spoke up, “Anyone?  Maggie?”  Maggie shook her head at her father, and he looked to Shawn, who was crying, staring at the ground.  Hershel nodded his head, and brought the funeral to a close.  Everyone went inside to get started on dinner and to move on.

Right after dinner, Hershel locked himself in his room, and wasn’t heard from again until the next morning.  This became a habit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DISCLAIMER: the poem recited by Beth is not my own, and is titled "A Mother's Promise" by Allie B. Quaglieri. No copyright infringement is intended.


	4. Get Out

Day 9

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


It had been nearly a week since LaRissa and Annette passed.  Since, Hershel has kept himself locked up in his room, constantly drinking or weeping.  He refuses to open the door, and will only come out to use the restroom or to eat.  Beth and Shawn, similarly, have spent most of their time alone in the fields, or just being very distant.  With Shawn and Hershel down, Otis, Arnold, Jimmy, and Robert’s group have stepped up to fill in the role of farmer, making sure everything that needs to get tended to does.

On this morning, Otis tried to convince Hershel to come out and be with us.  Hershel opened the door and spit some of his alcohol at Otis’s chest.  He noticed Robert and Lily observing, and yelled at them.  “It’s your fault that Annette is dead!  I want you off of my property, now!  Leave, and don’t you ever come back!”

Maggie, Patricia, Arnold, and Jimmy came out of their rooms, hearing the commotion.  All of them defended Robert’s group.  “Daddy,” Maggie began, “you need to stop that right now!  You know it’s not their fault.  It ain’t no one’s fault.  We couldn’t have known.”  Arnold and Jimmy nodded their heads.

“Hershel, you know I love you, and you know I loved Annette,” Patricia said, “but you are acting like a right jackass right now.  These people have been nothing but kind and helpful since they’ve gotten here.  If you kick them out, Otis and I are leaving with them.”

“Me too,” said Arnold.

“Same here,” Maggie added.  “You have no right to kick these people out.  I know you lost your wife, but we lost our mama.  Our aunt.  Our best friend.  We’re all hurting, but we have to move on.”  Maggie walked up to her dad and grabbed the alcohol out of his hand and threw it out of the nearest window, right into the wheelbarrow.

Hershel, still drunk, hiccuped.  He had a look of defeat on his face.  Wordlessly, he retreated back to his room.

Robert and Lily approached the others and hugged them.  “I didn’t know you guys cared that much about us,” Lily said.

Maggie smiled at us, “Of course!  We love y’all.  We’ve been through a lot now, haven’t we?  If we didn’t care for you by now, we’d be heartless.”

  
  


At dinner, when Hershel came down, there was an awkward air about the room.  Instead of grabbing the food and going back to his room, he took his place at the head of the table and ate with everyone.  The others tried to carry on despite the awkwardness.  Finally, after about twenty minutes of small talk, trying to ignore the shady elephant in the room, Hershel cleared his throat and spoke up.

“I just want to apologize to Robert, Lily, and Lyrik.  And,” he paused, “to everyone.  I’ve been a ‘right jackass’ to everyone, I understand.  And I want to make up for that.  I lost my wife, and I wasn’t dealing with it well.  I took it out on you people, and I drowned my sorrow in vodka.  And I want to re-extend my invitation to you three.  They’re right, you know,” he said, looking to Patricia, Arnold, and Maggie.  “You three are a tremendous help.  And I appreciate everything you’ve all done to accommodate for the mourning I went through.”

He smiled at them for a few seconds, and getting no response, he picked up his fork again, digging back into his food.  Everyone laughed, and began talking as if there had never been any rifts in the group.  They were truly beginning to feel like a family.


	5. New

Day 11

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


One beautiful, breezy day, the group decided to have an outdoor picnic.  Patricia, Lyrik, Beth, and Maggie chipped in to make a nice feast.  They brought out the foldable table and chairs, and took them outside to watch the sunset and have a family dinner.  They stayed there and chatted for a very long time.  Soon, it was getting quite dark, and the group decided to start cleaning up.  As they were beginning to carry it in, a car turned the corner to the farm about half a mile out.  Stunned, no one moved for at least a minute.

Snapping into action, Beth, Jimmy, Patricia, and Lyrik realized that this is people.  Actual, new people.  They ran to the side of the road, waving their arms, flashing their flashlights at the cars, trying to get their attention.

The car slowed down, noticing the four.  It pulled in right next to them, and the person driving it was a very buff man with half-blonde, half-black hair, and a moderately long black beard.  “Well, howdy, there,” he said.  “The name’s Seth.  What’s yours?”

The girls were obviously very interested in him, as they all failed to find words.  Jimmy spoke up for them.  As Jimmy introduced them, Seth’s eyes went to the crowd standing in the field, barely taking notice of them.  He realized that this farm was their home, and that they were a big group.  He smiled, and turned back to Jimmy just as he finished.

“I’m sorry, son, you’ll have to say that again.  I got distracted.  Mind if I get out and you introduce us to all of them, as well?”

“Uh, sure, I guess so,” Jimmy replied.

Seth pulled in and parked the car on the far side of the barn, out of sight from most of the road.  He got out, followed by four women and a black man.  “Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot to mention all of my friends here.”  He pointed to the black man who was now standing next to him, “This here’s Lee.  He’s my good buddy, he helped me out of my apartment building when this all started.”  He pointed to a woman with short, black hair who seemed very shy, and said that her name is Jessie.

A young brunette girl, no older than sixteen, introduced herself as Allison.  She had very large, Harry Potter-like glasses.  A very scrawny woman with bleached blonde hair and brown roots coming through raised her hand and said that she was named Amanda.  She very obviously does, or did, drugs judging by her appearance.  Seth laughed and pointed to the final girl, a blonde, middle-aged woman who had obviously just gotten done crying.  “Excuse her, I’m sorry.  She just lost her son.”

Jessie looked to the ground, upset at Seth’s words.  “I guess I did, too,” she said, obviously having history with Seth.

“You don’t know that, Jessie,” Seth retorted.  “Sorry Erin, but we actually saw her son die.  Yours was lost when we tried to escape the Atlanta.  He could be with other survivors.”  The two glared at each other for a few moments, which seemed very suspicious to Robert and Hershel.  “Anyways, sorry,” Seth said, realizing how awkward things had just gotten.  “You were saying, your names?”

Jimmy was stumbling over the names, so Hershel took over for him, introducing himself, his family, Robert’s group, Otis, Patricia, and Jimmy.  “So, what do you want?” Hershel inquired.

“Well, I don’t know,” Seth began.  “What do most survivors want?  Food, home, friends.  You all are the ones that flagged us down.  We have supplies in our vehicle, and we can combine inventories.  We could team up.  It’s a rough world out there.  You all probably don’t know how bad it is, do you?  People dying everywhere out there.  Y’all got it good here.  We can help you all out.  Do you need guns?  We have plenty!  So what do you say?”  Seth smiled widely and looked between everyone at the farm.  “Can we be a part of your group?”

Everyone looked to Hershel, seeing him as their unofficial leader.  He looked between everyone, with a few people nodding, and only Robert shaking his head no.  After a long period of silence, he looked into Seth’s eyes, and said “Yes.  You can join us.  But remember two things.  If you try to hurt a single one of us, you’re all dead.  These people are my family, and if you hurt them, you will regret it.  Secondly, if you live here, you will be expected to help out, at least a little bit.  Help keep the house clean, do chores, help out with animals, the lands, and anyone who needs help.”

Seth nodded his head and looked to his people.  They all nodded at him, and he smiled back to Hershel.  “So we’re in?” he clarified.  Hershel nodded his head again.  A wave of happiness washed across Seth’s face.  He turned to his caravan of survivors.  “Let’s get everything out, and pass out weapons!”

  
  


About an hour later, Patricia and Lyrik made up the only bedroom left, and Hershel told them that they could either pile in to it or sleep in the living room.  Lily told them that their friend died in the room they were trying to move into, and Erin and Jessie freaked out, wailing like babies.  Seth rolled his eyes when he thought no one was looking, though Robert and Lily caught it, and he told them they would sleep in the living room.  Shawn and Arnold helped them move a few mattresses downstairs, grumbling the whole way down.  Seth, Jessie, and Erin slept on couches while Lee, Allison, and Amanda slept on beds on the floor.

Robert was sitting in his room, listening to the quiet of the house.  Expecting the newcomers to be dangerous.  Lily and Lyrik told him he should stop being so paranoid and just go to bed, but he couldn’t help but worry.  “Robert,” Lily had told him, “they gave us weapons.  They wouldn’t do that if they planned to kill us.”  Though she had a point, Robert couldn’t shake the feeling of uneasiness.  After about thirty minutes of just staring out of the window, listening, he began to drift to sleep, against his better judgement.

Downstairs, the new group was trying to get some much-needed rest.  Seth was obviously upset about having to sleep on a couch when he could have been upstairs in a bed.  He felt that Jessie and Erin were way too sensitive.  They’re not the only ones who lost people they love and care for, he thought to himself.  What gives them the right to be so whiney?  I lost my dad, fiancé, and daughter, and I’m fuckin’ fine.

Seth is 28 years old and was a professional wrestler for the past few years, until he was fired for not complying with his advertising contracts.  He had a fiancé named Leighla who was devoured when she was bitten by a walker and he took her to the hospital on day 2 for treatment.  They entered, looking for doctors, but were met instead by a large crowd of walkers, and they ambushed Leighla, eating into her.  He went to find his family later that day, but found his father dead on his couch, with blood splatters all over the walls and a shotgun in his hands, pointed at himself.  In the back of the house, he found his 5-year-old daughter, Hayleigh, locked into the bathroom with wounds on her.  She had been bitten, and was very weak.  She told Seth that her grandmother died, and that she attacked Hayleigh.  After she was bitten, her grandpa came in and saved her, putting down his wife.  Later, he told her to stay in the bathroom and not come out, no matter what she hears.  She heard a single gunshot, and then nothing except for noises from outside for hours.  She died within the next few hours, turned, and Seth was forced to put her down.  Driving deeper into the city, Seth found a government-run safe-zone in Atlanta, and he stayed there.  On day 6, it fell, and he escaped the place with Jessie and Allison.

Jessie is a 32-year-old woman who used to be a student in college, trying to get her degree so that she could become a teacher.  She had an abusive husband named Peter who constantly got in the way, and eventually got her kicked out of college because of him forcing her to stay home.  Together, they had a young son named Ron, a brunet 7-year-old with a buzzcut his father insisted he have.  When the outbreak happened, they found sanctuary at the government-run safe-zone in Atlanta on day 2.  It didn’t take very long for that to fall, however.  Escaping, her husband was shot accidentally by a man trying to aim at a walker.  Her son was separated from her, and she fears that he may be dead.  Ron was visiting with his little friends when the safe-zone fell, and her priority was finding him.  She noticed him run out of the building with a thin, blonde woman and many other people, including some of his friends, but walkers followed them out, and she had no choice but to escape in the opposite direction with two complete strangers, Seth and Allison.

Erin lost her son, as well.  She was a single mother at the age of 27 who had two jobs working at two different convenience stores.  Her son, Owen, was the first person she knew to die during the outbreak.  He was a 9-year-old boy with glasses and dark hair he inherited from his father.  He came home from his friend’s house and said that he saw a dog run down an alley and he chased after it.  When he found it, though, he saw a man hurting it, and he threw rocks at the man, and the man attacked him.  He was bitten, taken to the hospital, and died very shortly after.  He turned, and killed his nurse.  Erin panicked and escaped the hospital as chaos ensued behind her.  She went home, gathered what she thought might be useful or sentimental and went to find her best friend, Amanda.

Amanda is quite a young girl, at about 24.  She and Erin went to the same school, and basically grew up together as next-door neighbors.  When she was 13, Amanda’s parents divorced, and her dad won custody of her, so she had to move.  They stopped talking, but rekindled their friendship when they entered high school.  When her parents divorced, she realized how awful her mother was, and she grew to resent both of her parents.  After Erin graduated high school, Amanda fell into a bad crowd.  They got her hooked on a plethora of addictive substances; cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, cannabis, alcohol, and a few less common ones, even some that her friends would make mixing up some of the drugs together.  Thanks to Erin, she recovered from her habits after she graduated high school.  Erin helped send her to rehab, and turned Amanda’s life around.  These days, it was hard not to slip back into her old habits.  She can’t promise anyone, even herself, that if she finds anything she used to be hooked on that she won’t try it.  They met Seth, Jessie, and Allison at nightfall on day 6, after their refugee center fell, and they joined forces.

Allison was 15 years old.  She’s what many would call a nerd, most of her time being devoted to reading or writing, even studying for fun.  She was with Jessie when she escaped Atlanta.  Her mom had died when she was born, and her father was in jail, so she was a part girl’s home that decided to take refuge in the safe-zone.  Many of the girls in the home were cruel, stealing her personal belongings, teasing her for being nerdy, and generally just being assholes.  When the safe-zone fell, she saw her chance to rid herself of her past, and followed Seth and Jessie out of the building.

Lastly, Lee was a tall, thin black man, who was moderately built.  He was 29, and was on his way to the state penitentiary on day 1, but his car crashed on the side of the road.  Luckily, a person driving down the road saw the crash and got out to help any survivors, which was only Lee, as the officer died in the crash.  As Lee was a criminal, the people who helped him got him back on his way to the state prison, but when they arrived, it was a horror shot, with walkers everywhere, and a few officers alive, screaming at the driver to flee.  They left and retreated to the safe-zone that was established in Atlanta, and were among the first people to arrive.  There, Lee drifted from the people who saved him, as they were quite odd freaks of way-too-strong morals.  When the safe-zone fell, he locked himself in a back room and waited for the chaos to end, which was late into day 8.  By that time, most of the walkers had wandered off to go chase a stray gunshot or any other thing of interest.  He gathered what few supplies were left, including raiding the dead bodies of those who died during the fall, and used them to get out of Atlanta.  He found Seth and everyone else holed up in a house in a small town outside of Atlanta on day 9, and they welcomed him to the group.

These six people are good people, speaking factually.  They may have faults and prejudices, but they aren’t the type to murder strangers for their supplies.  They are, however, carrying a big secret.


	6. Followed

Day 15

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Since the new group arrived, they have very much improved our survival rate.  Occasionally, we would have a stray walker or two come out of the woods.  To take care of the issue of walking outside and being met with a walker standing in the yard, Seth suggested we have a lookout at all time, and that we could take shifts.  They assisted us in all of the jobs, and now the farm is almost ready for growing.

They had enough guns to get every Greene family member armed, as well as Robert, Lily, Otis, and Jimmy.  The two days after they arrived, they took us into town, to the local firing range, and taught us quite a bit about shooting and aiming, as well as quickly reloading.

Everyone in the group, including Robert, has begun to warm up to the new group quite a lot.  They have been very nice, and none of them have seemed too threatening.  The only one who seemed suspicious to Robert was Seth, who seemed to be hiding a lot of things.  Everyone else was either a sad mother or an average, frail citizen, and thus didn’t alert Robert to any suspicions.

They seemed to be quite paranoid, or on the lookout, or something.  It seemed quite off to the original group.  They were constantly volunteering for lookout duty, or staring outside windows to the road.  Hershel, Patricia, and Arnold, having already grown much closer to them than some of the more suspicious, said that they were probably just working extra hard to show that they can pull their weight.  To prove that they are worth keeping around, because they must have seen and experienced quite terrible things.  Finally, however, on this day, they were beginning to ease up, and they decided to let Arnold have night shift as lookout so that they could all finally get some much-needed rest.

The thing is, they truly were hiding something.  And they chose the worst night to give up lookout duty.  They made a very big mistake in letting their guard down, and it was going to come back to bite them in the ass.

Arnold got onto watch duty just around sundown, right after dinner.  He went upstairs and climbed onto the roof through Hershel’s window to take his position for the night.  He brought up his favorite magazine for when it gets too quiet, and a fresh cup of coffee for just in case.

  
  


Hours and hours passed, way past midnight, and the only thing he saw was a stray walker crossing from one side of the field to the other, being swallowed back into the forest like a balloon floating to the sky and vanishing.

About an hour before sunrise, Arnold was getting very tired.  He went inside for a quick refill of coffee.  He climbed in through Hershel’s window, being careful not to wake the man.  Arnold made his way in, and slipped through the door downstairs, passing by many doors, holding many loved ones.  When he got downstairs, he was careful to step lightly, so as to not wake up Seth’s group.  In the kitchen, he found he had drank all of the coffee in the pot, it empty, aside from a thin layer of coffee in the bottom.  He poured what little he could into his cup, and started up a new pot.  Paranoid, and knowing it would take about twenty minutes for the coffee to make, he headed back upstairs and out through the window to return to his post.

He sat back on the roof, and sipped at what little coffee he had.  By his third sip, it was gone, and he groaned to himself, putting his head in his hands.  Then, he heard a low rumble that took him off guard.  He lifted his head from his hands.  It was a vibrating sound, and it felt like a small earthquake.  He nearly brushed it off before he noticed movement up the road.  There, a large truck covered in blood was driving up, followed by a small car with long paint scratches on one side.  Their headlights were turned off, and they were moving quite slowly.  The drivers were trying not to be noticed.  They’re either looking for something, Arnold though to himself, or they know we’re here, and they want something.  God, I hope they just want to join us.

Arnold readied his gun, pointing it into the windshield of the bloodsplattered truck in the lead.  Looking through the sniper, he saw a large, dark man, who appeared to be either Hispanic or simply very tanned.  He had muscles ripping at the seams and a handlebar mustache.  In the passenger seat was a smaller, though still quite fit, white man with a buzzcut.  He had an angry sneer on him, and a blade of wheat between his teeth.  Arnold sighed, These sure don’t look like nice people.

As the vehicles neared the house, Arnold pressed against the house, right next to Hershel’s window, attempting to blend in.  He kept his sniper up, and watched the people in the vehicles studying the house, though they were looking more at the grounds around the farm, eyeing up vehicles and things outside, such as tables, and occasionally trying to see through windows.  They were nearly surrounded by the trees again, on the exit of the road off of the farm, when the car stopped.  The truck soon took notice and stopped, as well.  A flashlight turned on in the car, and first was directed to the back window of the truck, then the beam turned, and shone in a direction Arnold couldn’t see.  He scooted closer to the edge of the house as the roof creaked below him, and saw that the beam was on the vehicle Seth’s group arrived in.

Arnold angrily sighed to himself.  I guess Robert was right.  Why did those bitches have to flag Seth and his fucks down?

After a few moments of the flashlight’s beam scanning the car, presumably making sure it’s the right one, the light turned off, and the vehicles began moving, quicker this time.  Arnold felt a rush of relief.  They were mistaken.  This isn’t the car they’re looking for.  He lowered his gun, and began to smile.  Then, the truck made a sharp u-turn, the car following.  Their headlights blazed to life, blinding Arnold instantly.  He fumbled, attempting to raise his gun, but struggling to find the right parts of it in the bright light.

The cars drove up into the yard, and parked right below the part of the house Arnold was pressed up against.  Arnold’s eyes finally adjusted to the light, and he squinted, his gun up and finger on the trigger.  The strangers climbed out of the cars, and stood right in front of them, silhouettes standing in the headlights.  There was about ten of them.  The big, strong one lifted his gun, using his sniper in the same manner Arnold was.  As he was about to fire, he realized that this man was unfamiliar.  He lowered his gun back down.  “Who are you?” called the stranger.

“What’s it to you?” Arnold replied, sneering.

“It’s not worth much to me,” the tan leader replied, “but I’m sure it means quite a lot to you, considering your answer determines your fate here.”  The other silhouettes around him raised their guns in unison.  Arnold considered lowering his, but was too afraid to move.

“A-” he paused, “Arnold Greene.”

The leader nodded his head in response.  “Well, Arnold, have you seen any people around recently?  A group of four?  Maybe a bit more?  Their leader’s a dude with dual-colored hair, pretty built.  Traveling with a black guy and two weak girls.  Unless they died by now.  Ringing any bells, Arno?”

Arnold’s breath caught.  What should he say?  What happened?  Were the people in Seth’s group bad people?  Murderers?  Thieves?  Arnold realized the gravity of the situation, nine guns pointed at him, ready to fire, and snapped back into it.  With a twinge of immediate regret, he said yes.

“Just as I thought.  Well, Arny-boy, I’m going to need you to let me in.  Immediately.  They are inside, yes?”

Beginning to panic, Arnold told them to wait while he got his leader.  The silhouetted stranger turned to the person right next to him and they whispered to themselves.  They agreed to let Arnold in, but if he took longer than five minutes, their house would become Swiss cheese.

Quickly, Arnold got to his feet, shoved the window open, and could be heard from where the strangers were standing, shouting inaudibly.

Hershel, rudely awakened, quickly slipped on pants and a jacket and grabbed his pre-loaded shotgun.  He slipped on his shoes as Arnold slipped back out the window to buy more time.  Hershel made his way out of his room and woke up Otis and Patricia, and told them to get everybody up and ready to fight immediately.  He made his way downstairs, and woke up Seth and Jessie, before he heard the leader outside yell, obviously getting annoyed at Arnold.  Hershel quickly went out of the door.

“I’m here, I’m here.  I’m old, damn it,” Hershel said, trying to cover for his slowness.

Upstairs, Otis and Patricia were waking everyone up.  They grabbed their guns, and some of them shoved their most prized possessions into their pockets, or grabbed bags they had packed in case they needed to make a quick escape.  They all readied their guns, making sure they were loaded and ready to go, and positioned themselves in windows or in safer areas, to wait out the gunfire or to provide a safety area in case someone got injured and needed medical attention as soon as possible.

Downstairs, Seth panicked.  He knew what was going on.  If he or one of his people were on lookout duty, they would have seen the truck coming and could have done something.  Hidden the car more, drove it out of there, killed the dangerous group on sight.  Anything would have been better than this.  Better than ruining their chances at the group ever trusting them again.  Better than having this safe, beautiful farm possibly being destroyed.  Certainly better than having these good, trustable, amazing people die for something that was in no way their fault.  He gathered his group, armed them, and they positioned themselves in the windows, ready to fight for this place.

“So you’re the leader?” the silhouetted stranger asked Hershel.  “You seem to be quite.. elderly for a leader.”

“Doesn’t mean I can’t keep people in line, or that I can’t keep them safe,” Hershel said, his eyes hardening with anger.

“Well, whatever man.  I don’t care about you or Augustus Gloop up there on your roof.  I’m here to.. get my friends.  Seth, I believe one goes by.”  Though it couldn’t be seen, it was obvious the man was smiling at what he had just said.

The conversation lasted for as long as Hershel could manage, and it eventually went out of control when it became apparent that Hershel was trying to buy time.  Arnold had sneaked back to the window, with one leg in and one leg out, his gun still up and ready to fire.  Trying to be subtle, Hershel took a step back, and the door behind him was quietly opened slightly, so that Hershel could push past it and get inside if things got dirty.  The leader took notice, however, and he raised his gun.  “I’m sick of this shit,” he said, and fired at Hershel, the bullet flying just barely past his head, chopping off a few white hairs.  Hershel quickly turned and ran inside, throwing the door open and slamming it shut behind him, bullets firing from the windows of the house at the strangers.  Arnold quickly tumbled inside, dodging the bullets coming his way, but falling flat onto his face and making a very loud thud throughout the house.  He scrambled to his feet, ran out of Hershel’s room, past Patricia and Lyrik, who were on medical duty, and went to Maggie’s room to the right to help defend the farm.

The gunfire flew rapidly.  Suddenly, with the blink of an eye, Allison was shot right between the eyes, falling lifelessly to the ground.  Jessie and Erin ducked down, panicking, crying.  “Get back up and fight for this fucking farm, goddamn it!” Seth screamed at them, filling with rage that they could just give up so easily.  Jessie cautiously but quickly raised back up to the window and resumed firing.  Erin, however, stayed down, afraid.

Upstairs, Otis, Shawn, Beth, Jimmy, Robert, Lily, Arnold, and Maggie were in a row, firing at the opposing group.  Robert downed a woman, right in the heart.  Beth got a headshot and smiled, pleased with herself, but tried to keep the firing going.  Jimmy looked to her, and locked eyes with Beth, smiling at one another.  He opened his mouth to congratulate her, but a bullet went right through his open mouth, flying out of the other side, and he fell to the floor, lifeless.  Beth wailed, and got on her knees over him.  “Patricia!  Jimmy needs your help, now!”  Patricia and Lyrik rushed in, keeping their heads low, and dragged Jimmy into the hallway to assist him, with Beth following behind.  As soon as they lowered him back onto the ground, Patricia gasped and covered her mouth.  The gun had passed through Jimmy’s throat, just past his spine, missing his brain completely.  If they had proper medical equipment, there’s a chance he could be saved.  Patricia looked up to Beth and grimly shook her head no.

The mysterious leader grew angry from ducking behind cars, having to deal with a group that could barely aim.  Everyone in the farm should be dead by now.  He killed someone on the ground floor, and a woman nailed someone upstairs, but she had been taken care of pretty much right after.  He had lost five people out here, half of his group.  He turned to his right-hand man, and nodded his head.  The man with the buzzcut grabbed a bottle of liquor and ripped off a shred of a fabric they kept around for just this, and he put it in the mouth of the bottle.  He turned to the leader, ready with a lighter, and lit the fabric.  He threw it quickly to the house and it burst, setting the porch on fire.

“Fuck!” Seth yelled, and he pushed Jessie and Hershel from the windows and told them to get everyone and get out.  They ran upstairs and got everyone they could to quickly come down.  Hershel, Maggie, Shawn, Jessie, Robert, Lyrik, Lily, Arnold, and Otis came down the stairs with packs loaded and they ran out the back door into the two trucks they had; Hershel, Maggie, and Lily in the front seat of the blue truck, and Shawn, Lyrik, and Robert in the red truck.  The formers were the drivers, and Otis, Arnold, and Jessie were in the back of the red truck.  Otis and Arnold had their guns up, ready to fire in case one of the strangers came around this side of the house.

Inside, Patricia was screaming at Beth, crying for her to pull herself together and get into action.  Finally, Patricia drew back and slapped her, and she stared at Patricia, stunned.  Patricia took the opportunity to get her to her knees and to get the supplies so they could flee.

Downstairs, Seth’s group was split.  Lee had made it outside, and got in the back of the blue truck.  Seth, Erin, and Amanda were inside, still.  Erin was still on her knees, kneeling with her face on the ground, weeping into the floor, Allison’s undead body lying in front of her.  Amanda was yelling, watching the flames grow closer, inching in through the windows.  “Erin, goddamn it, we have to leave now, or we will die!  Don’t you get that?”

Seth was kneeling over them, out of aim from the still-flying bullets in the front yard.  “Look, either this place is going to fall, or we’re gonna leave her here.  She’s not moving.  We have to go, now!”

Amanda looked at Seth, horrified.  “How could you say that?  That we’d just leave her here?”  Amanda pulled on Erin, but she screamed, an ugly, roaring scream of pain and anguish.

“Do you not see her?  She was a mess before we ever got here.  Seeing more people die was only ever going to set her off the edge.  If she didn’t break down now, she would have done it later.  Now we can escape.  If we leave now, we won’t have to deal with her in the future, doing this again.  She could get us all killed if that happens.”

Behind him, Beth and Patricia ran through the back door, and Patricia turned to them, “Come on, we need to leave right now!”

Seth looked over his shoulder, and turned back to Amanda.  Amanda stared at Erin, contemplating.  An ember fell beside her, and she finally took notice of the flames encroaching, eating at the house.  She looked back to Erin, and tears began falling.  “I’m sorry,” she said under her breath.  Seth grabbed her by the arms and dragged her out.  Bumps could be heard coming from upstairs, but there was no time to check what it was.  Amanda began to regret her decision immediately, and tried fighting back once they got out of the back door.

Beth and Patricia were in the back of the blue truck, and Seth was fighting Amanda towards it, and she eventually gave up when she heard a large crash, knowing the front of the house had collapsed.  The red truck took off, while Amanda and Seth climbed into the back of the blue one.  As the truck was taking off, two walkers made their way from around the house, and a singed one came from inside.  Amanda screamed to stop, thinking it was Erin, but it was walking too slowly, and they soon realized it was on fire when they thought the fire was simply the flames of the house.  It was undead Jimmy, but no one knew that it was him and assumed that it was one of the mystery group or a random walker that got in somehow.  The truck kicked back to life, and chased after the red one.


	7. What Just Happened?

Day 16

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


The group has just suffered a tremendous loss.  They lost the farm, most of their supplies, and the lives of three of their friends.  Now, the were on the run, driving northwest.  The sun rose above them, like a flag, symbolizing the new start they have been forced to make.  They drove all day, passing through towns and cities, trying to make as much distance as possible between themselves and Senoia.  After having passed a fourth town, the people in the red truck felt they were safe, and signalled that they were turning off onto a side road.

Shawn pulled over the red truck, and everyone got out of the seats or climbed out from the back.  Soon, the blue truck drove by and Hershel pulled over and did the same.

As Hershel got out, he began, “So, where should we-” but was cut off by Shawn, who had been holding in his rage this whole time, letting it boil deep inside like a kettle ready to blow.

“What the fuck was that about?” He screamed, huffing and puffing over Seth.  He turned to Lee and pointed, “Do you know anything about this shit?”

Everyone originally from Seth’s group lowered their heads.  “Yeah, we know what that was about,” Lee said, speaking up.  Seth looked him in the eyes, and they shared a knowing look.

“Those people,” Seth paused, trying to find the right words.  “Those people were actually the innocent ones.  Well, not after that.  But originally, we were the ones at fault.  And we didn’t know they would find us.  We were hoping that they lost us.  And on behalf of everyone, I’m sorry.”

Shawn was angrier still.  He waited, but Seth said nothing more, holding a guilty look on his face.  “Are you gonna fucking tell me what the hell happened, or do I have to shoot all’a you one by one?  Leave you all here?  I fuckin’ will!”  He reached for his holster, about to grab his gun, but Hershel grabbed his arm, and looked him in the eyes, mutely telling him to calm down.

Seth sighed, scratched at his beard, and looked down.  “We stole from them.  We didn’t know we were stealing from them, though.  We should have, but we foolishly thought that it was out for the taking.  There was food, medicine, guns.  Lots of stuff that we needed.  And, it wasn’t everyone in my group’s fault, either.  Amanda and Erin, they weren’t with us at the time.”

Shawn spat.  “I don’t believe you.  How the hell did he know your car?  Your name, Seth?”

Seth’s face remained the same, unfazed.  “Well, their leader saw us drive away with the stuff, which made us realize what we had taken just then was stolen.  And I imagine he heard Allison say my name when we left.”  Seth lowered his head, and spoke with sincerity, “I’m truly sorry.  Especially to you, Beth.  I’m very sorry that you lost your boyfriend.  But, you guys, you aren’t the only ones who lost something last night.  I lost two of my friends, Erin and Allison.”

Beth looked down to the ground.  “It’s okay,” she said.  “I forgive you.”  She looked up to him, wiping away a tear.  “But it’s not really my place to forgive you.  It was Jimmy’s life.  Not mine.”

Seth lifted an eyebrow, not expecting that kind of response from her.  He nodded to her.

Shawn looked to his sister, slightly shocked.  Since Beth and Hershel let it go, he decided he should try to as well.  He sighed, scratched his head, and leaned against a car, falling into the crowd.

Hershel looked between them and decided they were done arguing.  “Well,” he began, “as I was tryin’ to say.  Our priority right now is finding a place to stay, and soon.  We’re nearly runnin’ on fumes, and we have very little sleep.  Also, finding more vehicles couldn’t hurt.  Get people out of the cold, open back of a truck.  Anyone got any suggestions?”

There was a long pause, and Maggie looked around.  Down the highway, she spotted a sign.  “Welcome to Palmetto,” it read.

“Daddy, look.  We’re outside of Palmetto.  We could go check on Fern.”

“Fern?” Hershel questioned.  It took him a second, but then the memory came back to him.  “Fern, that girl who moved away a few years back?  Maggie, I’m not sure that’s a great idea.  When was the last time you talked to her?  And,” he hesitated, looking to the ground, “there’s a real good chance she’s gone.”

Maggie shook her head.  “I know, Daddy.  But if she’s gone, her house could still be a great place to stay.  Her parents kept it real nice.  A farmhouse surrounded by forest, even has a little pond outside of it.”

Hershel slowly nodded his head.  “Alright.  You lead the way,” he said, and gestured for her to drive his truck there.

  
  


They made it to Fern’s house about twenty minutes after.  Maggie had to constantly turn around, trying to recall the way to her friend’s home.  She turned down another one of the offshoots on a road, beginning to feel stupid, when the large pond materialized on the right side of her, the water shining beautifully, blindingly into the trucks.  They made their way up the road, and were met with a few walkers roaming around the house.

The walkers quickly took notice of them, and began trudging their way towards them.  Maggie grabbed her gun and got out, taking down two walkers, Shawn taking out the third one.  Maggie approached their dead bodies and sighed, slightly saddened.  She recognized one to be Fern’s father, Fernando.  He had a large chunk of his neck missing, obviously eaten by walkers.  The other two walkers appeared to be strays, or possibly other survivors that were with him when he died.

Hershel stood over her and put his hand on his daughter’s shoulder.  She turned to him, her expression unbothered.  “It’s alright, Daddy.  She wasn’t my best friend or anything.  I’ll be fine, so long as the house is.”

They began walking into the house, and Lily gave Robert a worried look.  They both had their guns ready, but Lily seemed to be a bit afraid of what could lie inside.  If it’s something awful, Maggie could be very upset by what she finds.  If it’s anything too gruesome, they may just have to move on and find another place, which could be dangerous.

Shawn entered the house first, his gun at the ready.  In the living room was five walkers, meandering around aimlessly.  Maggie, Robert, and Otis followed in directly after.  Maggie noticed that the walker farthest from them was Fern.  She frowned and lowered her gun slightly.  Gunfire went off around her, and all five were put down.  She looked to the ground and turned around. “All clear,” she said, signalling for everyone to come in and unpack.

Otis, Shawn, and Robert went upstairs, checking the rest of the house for more walkers and supplies.  Maggie decided to walk the perimeters and keep lookout to distract herself.

Everyone moved in, carrying their stuff inside as much as they could at a time.  Beth and Patricia were the first ones in, carrying the medical supplies and some sleeping bags.  Immediately upon entering, they were smacked in the face with the vile odor of rotting corpses.  Beth dropped the box of medical supplies, doubling over in disgust, puke threatening harshly to make its escape.  Patricia helped her out, wrapping Beth’s arm around her shoulders and guiding her outside.  “Don’t go in there,” she said to everyone coming in.  “They put down some walkers and the smell’s liable to kill you.”

Hershel turned to Arnold and Seth and nodded his head.  “Alright,” he said.  “You two, come on, let’s go get those stinkers outta there.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Seth said.

“Yeah,” Arnold so helpfully chimed in.

“Those things could make us puke everywhere, and it would be a lot worse,” Seth said.  “We might catch something.”

“Well, unless you want to wait on them up there to come down to do it and leave us all just standing out in the open, then yeah, I’m sure,” Hershel said.  “We can wear masks, it’ll be fine.”

The three entered holding their breath and picked up the medical box Beth had dropped.  They quickly tried to get masks out of it before the scent hit them.  Arnold couldn’t hold it, and the smell attacked his nostrils.  He ran outside immediately, desperately holding his hand over his mouth.  As he ran out, everyone ran off in the opposite direction, avoiding him at all costs.  He made it to the edge of the woods and hurled onto the trunk of a tree.

After Arnold was done, he headed back to the house and was met by Hershel, wearing gloves and a mask, holding out the same for Arnold to put on.  He dumbly looked at Hershel, giving him a look that said, “I hate you for still making me do this.”

By the time they made it to the third body, the three upstairs had finished scanning the house, finding no more walkers, but a few guns and bullets Fern's redneck father used to own. Robert, Otis, and Shawn helped out, and the bodies were dragged out one by one and put in an open area near the lake to burn them later, another great idea from Seth.

Everyone carried on moving in and setting up shop.  Things seemed to be good here, to Hershel, Beth, Otis, and Patricia.  They loved it here, and thought we could live here indefinitely.  Robert, Arnold, Maggie, Lily, Seth, and Lee, however, felt that we should keep moving, not get too comfortable.  Seth made his case on why they should stay, stating how “They found us in Senoia, all the way from northern Atlanta.  If we want to escape them, if they’re not all dead, we need to keep moving, because they will find us.  It’s clear now that those crazy fucks have a bloodlust.”

The discussion carried on for quite a while, until Hershel ruled a compromise.  “I suppose you could be right about them following us.  But we can’t keep driving around like this.  We need to take time to get our strength back, and to find more supplies, better vehicles.  How about this?  We stay here for three days.  Then we decide what to do from there.  If anyone feels too uneasy, or we find signs that we’ve been followed, we leave immediately.

Begrudgingly, everyone agreed to the compromise.  That night, Maggie stayed up as lookout, almost terrified of sleeping in that house after seeing Fern like that.  She looked terrible, like she had been tortured for days before she died.  Her jaw was missing completely, and she was missing her left hand.  Fern’s mother was in the room with her, too, and she looked just as bad.  Maggie finally realized how bad things must be out here, and she suddenly felt very scared for the future.  Everyone would die, and it would be painful.  She would die, her father would die, her siblings, Otis, Patricia, Robert, Seth.  Everyone.


	8. Let’s Go

Day 19

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Over the past three days, the group had scavenged in Palmetto as much as they could, and found many useful things.  Gas in cars, lighters, matches, canned foods, plant seeds, and clothes.  Everyone got at least one extra set of clothing, and they found three working vehicles: two cars and a van.  One of the cars was a deep blue, while the other was white, and the van was a very light green-ish color.  They decided to siphon all of the gas out of the trucks and put it into the van and the white car, which was the spaciest of the two cars.

Now, it was morning.  The sun was slowly beginning to rise over the sunset.  It was peaceful, aside from a few walkers every now and then.  Today was the day the group would vote on whether or not they stay here, and Arnold was on lookout duty once more.

Though an awful thing happened the last time he was on lookout, he quite enjoyed this job.  It was quiet, tranquil.  Gave him time to himself away from the group, to think.  Today was a very big day to be thinking, as well.  Certain members of the group have entrusted him to get us out of here, and he wasn’t entirely unwilling to go along with it.  No matter how nice this place looked, he did not dat to put his friends and family in danger.

Robert, Maggie, and Seth came up with an idea.  Arnold would be on lookout duty on the night before the final day, so when it came time to discuss leaving, Arnold would have news for them.  He would lie and say that in the night he saw headlights through the trees run down a neighboring road, and that they were driving quite slowly, as if they were looking for someone.  He would then say that he awoke Robert and Maggie to be on standby in case things went South, and then they would lie, as well, and say that they witnessed the vehicles, too.

Thinking it over, however, Arnold was very unsure.  If they kept moving, they might never find a good place to stay.  Even if they do, that could be a long time from now.  Being out on the road seemed much more dangerous than running from a group of people that could quite likely have just perished in the fire of Hershel’s farm.  Sending the group on the road could quite likely be a death sentence.  Staying here could be a death sentence as well, but quite likely not any time soon.  This could be a haven.

Soon, after spending his time pondering, conflicted, and staring out at the lake, the sun was quite high up, and he didn’t realize it until Otis found him and told him to come downstairs, because the group was voting on staying or going.

He made his way downstairs, still weighing the possibilities.  In the livingroom, Hershel was standing in front of a coffee table while everyone around him sitting in the chairs and couches surrounding it.  Arnold took a seat right next to Maggie, ready to speak when Hershel first asked for any information.

“Alright, so now everyone’s here.  As you all should know, it’s been three days since we moved in, so it’s time to vote on whether we stay here or move on.  First, we need to know if anyone’s seen anything strange.”  Maggie, Robert, and Seth subtly looked to Arnold.  He looked back at them, and decided, This is the right thing to do.

“I did,” Arnold spoke up.  “Last night, on lookout, I heard what sounded like cars, and on the other side of the trees, at the neighboring house, I saw headlights.  I got worried, and I woke up Robert and Maggie to help out in case something happened.  Sun was close to time of coming up though, so I guess they got scared of being seen.  Took off.”

Hershel’s face showed what looked like serious fear, and it shocked Arnold greatly.  He turned to Robert and Maggie.  “Is this true?” he asked.  Maggie nodded her head, and Robert frowned at Hershel, also a bit shocked to see quite a reaction.  “Well, why the hell did no one tell me sooner?” Hershel asked, sounding suddenly angry.

“Daddy, nothing happened,” Maggie told him.  “If the car turned this way, we would have went and got you.”  She realized her argument didn’t exactly make the point that they were in danger, though, and quickly added, “But that was bad.  If they got here any sooner, we’d could’a been dead.  I think we need to leave.”  Jessie, who had remained neutral, nodded her head worriedly to Hershel, seconding Maggie’s suggestion to leave.

Hershel nodded his head, looking upset, as well.  “Alright, well.  I think this changes things.  I think it’s right time to vote.  All who vote we should leave, raise your hand.”  Maggie, Arnold, Robert, Lily, Lyrik, Seth, Jessie, and Lee raised their hands.  The last one, Hershel slowly raised his hand as well.  “All opposed,” he said, and Patricia, Otis, Beth, Shawn, and Amanda raised their hands.

He lowered his head and felt like he may regret his next words.  “Overruled.  We leave immediately.  Everyone, pack up your stuff and we’ll leave before noon.”

Everyone got up from their seats, headed to their rooms, and got their belongings.  Just on time, they left before noon.  This was going to be a long drive.


	9. Temporary

  
Day 20 ****  


  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
They drove for hours in their new vehicles and made it out of Georgia. They passed the Alabama state line and continued driving for hours. That night, they set up camp off the road a ways outside of a town, with two people on lookout at any given time. They woke up the next morning and began driving once more after having a light breakfast of canned food and the last of their remaining vegetables from the farm.  
  
Slowly they drove down the lonely roads, cluttered with debris. Crashed or broken vehicles littering the highway, with the occasional blood splatter here and there, walkers roaming all about. Eventually, they made it into a town and spotted a house that seemed usable. All of their past houses had been farm houses basically in the middle of nowhere. This one was quite a large house sat in the center of a neighborhood. It seemed to be large enough to hold all of them, and they decided to get out and check it out. Arnold, Seth, Lee, and Shawn volunteered to check and clear out the house.  
  
They entered, and the entrance room was quite large and split into two directions. To the left, the kitchen and living room were visible. Down the right, a long hallway with many doors could be seen. Seeing no immediate threats, they splits up. Lee and Shawn went to the left, exploring the main rooms, while Arnold and Seth went to the right to check out the hallway, which presumably was the bedrooms.  
  
Lee and Shawn occupied themselves with scrounging for supplies and checking out any offshoots, such as unexpected doors - which either led outside or to a bathroom or closet - or making sure all windows and doors were secured.  
  
Seth and Arnold decided to split the doors between themselves to save time. Seth took all the doors on the left-hand side of the hallway, while Arnold took all the doors on the right-hand side of the hallway. They agreed to not open any two doors at once, and to wait for the other person to open their door before they open their own.  
  
Their first two rooms were perfectly fine, the only thing seeming off was the room Arnold opened smelling like rotten eggs and soured milk. The trend continued, with every door they opened seeming perfectly fine, though some things being slightly off, like a blood splatter here, or a cracked window there.  
  
At the end of the hall, Seth had just opened his room, and was currently inside of it, checking it out, signalling to Arnold that it was okay to open his door. He slowly cracked it open, nervous. If they hadn’t seen any walkers or corpses yet, now would be the time for one to appear, right when it was expected that everything fine. It’s never too late to get your face eaten off by a walker. As he opened it, the room was, like the others, clear. Relieved, Arnold sat his gun down onto the bed and layed down on his back next to it. He sighed, finally able to rest, and this time on an actual bed! It had been almost a week since he had a bed of his own, and he wanted to enjoy what little time he had with it.  
  
As he was beginning to doze off, he heard a scratching noise under the bed, but blew it off, focusing on his relaxation. In an instant, something grabbed onto his ankle, and he felt an intense pain. A quite delayed reaction, he sat up and yelled in pain, doing his best to get his hands around his gun. Seth bolted into the room and noticed a small walker ripping into Arnold’s ankle. Arnold had gotten his hands around his gun and pointed down, figuring he had gotten the aim right, but shot himself in the calf instead, and yelled furiously in pain, throwing himself on his back again, writhing in pain. Seth gasped, and lowered his gun. He looked around the room, and found a pocket knife lying on a dresser. He grabbed it, and slammed it into the walker’s head, blood spewing coming from both sides, out of the hole made with the pocket knife, and a bit coming out of the mouth, mixing into Arnold’s blood.  
  
By this time, Lee and Shawn had heard the commotion, and Lee had left to go get Hershel. Shawn and Seth began working on cleaning Arnold’s leg and getting the walker out of the way, but it was stuck to something under the bed. Seth went around the side of the bed and attempted to pull it out from under the bed and found that the walker’s legs were tied to the bedposts. Seth used the same pocket knife he used to put down the walker to free it, and he dragged it out from under the bed. It was the body of a young boy, thin and small, no older than 10. Seth grimaced and looked to Shawn, who was holding Arnold’s legs in his hands, attempting to slow the bleeding. They shared very worried looks about all of this, and Seth began dragging the young walker out through the hall and out of the back door so that no one would see it. Hershel and Patricia came through the doors of the house just as Seth made it through the back. Lee led them to Arnold and Shawn, and the two immediately began working on him, cleaning and disinfecting the wound and wrapping it up as best they could. After, Seth rejoined them. “I’m sorry, Hershel. We should have been more careful. This is my fault,” he said to Hershel, genuinely feeling very guilty.  
  
“No, son,” Hershel said to Seth, “this isn’t anyone’s fault. Neither of you could have known. He thought it was safe and it wasn’t. If anything, it’s Arnold’s fault.” He paused, and reconsidered his words. “I didn’t mean that, I just.. I’m sorry Arnold,” he said, looking to Arnold’s unconscious face. After checking other beds and blind spots in all of the bedrooms, Seth and Lee helped Arnold get properly into the bed. Hershel knew that no matter what he did for Arnold now, nothing could help him. Saying that aloud though wouldn’t be the best thing to, say, though. He stifled a tear, and got up to inform the people outside that it was clear to come in and get settled, and warned them to be careful not to be too loud or to disrupt Arnold in any way.  
  
  
  
About an hour later, everyone had picked out sleeping arrangements for the seven bedrooms they had to share. The sun was beginning to set, and Arnold had woken up. All of the Greenes were surrounding him, hoping that these would not be the last moments they spent with him.  
  
“I’m going to die, aren’t I?” Arnold asked them. “Just like LaRissa.. and Aunt Annette.” Beth sadly looked to the ground, and Maggie shook her head at him.  
  
“No, Arnold,” Maggie said. “We don’t know that. We don’t know how this works, we were able to disinfect your wound pretty quickly after it happened. You’re going to be fine.”  
  
Though Maggie said it, just like Hershel, she knew she was wrong. That she was lying to Arnold. No one believed her, but they wanted to. God, did they want to.


	10. Foodland & Goodnight

Day 21 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
It was he next morning, and things with Arnold were still looking grim. He hadn’t been able to move at all, not even to change his position on the bed, and people were losing hope. Not only were they losing hope, they were running low on supplies. They had used the last of their alcohol yesterday on Arnold, and they needed a lot more food and bandages. Exploring the blocks surrounding their new house, Shawn and Otis discovered that they were a few blocks east of a grocery store called Foodland.  
  
Shawn and Otis told Hershel about it, and he agreed with them that they should consider getting a group together and head out to get supplies. “How about,” Otis proposed, “Shawn, Seth, Lee, and I go?”  
  
Hershel half-frowned at him. “I’m not sure that’s the best idea right now. Patricia needs you, and I don’t think you should be goin’ around, riskin’ your life when we have a constant reminder here about how dangerous it is out there.”  
  
A flash of sadness swept across Otis’s face, but he pushed it back and nodded his head compliantly. Shawn looked to Otis and considered sneaking him out, but decided against it for Patricia’s sake. Otis was tough enough, but Hershel wasn’t wrong. “Well, I’ll ask around,” he told Hershel, who nodded in response.  
  
Shawn went to find Seth and Lee, but they weren’t in their room. He went down the hallway, about to check for them in Jessie and Amanda’s room, but heard voices in the living room, and followed them. There, everyone was gathered around in the living room, playing board games they had found in one of their rooms. Shawn sighed, slightly angry about having to ask everyone together. He entered the room and smiled to Beth, who was the first to notice him, but she only half-smiled in return.  
  
“Everyone,” he said, attempting to get their attention, “Otis and I found a supermarket down the road, and we need to get a group together to go and scavenge for supplies. Does anyone want to volunteer?”  
  
Lee and Maggie raised their hands instantly, eager both to help out and to get out of the house, with its sad, glum air. Seth kept his head down, acting as though he was focused on the cards. Hesitantly, Robert put his hand up, as well. Lily noticed, and decided -  _Why not?_  - putting her hand up as well.  
  
Shawn was obviously disappointed. Seth was upset for some reason, and Maggie, Robert, and Lily weren’t exactly the best people to bring along. Maggie because he was his sister, and Robert and Lily because they weren’t really very strong members of the group. “Maggie, no,” he said.  
“Shawn,” Maggie told him, glaring, “I don’t care what you say, I’m going. I can handle myself, and you know that.”  
  
Shawn shook his head, frustrated. “Robert, Lily, are you guys sure you should be going?”  
  
Robert raised a brow at him, “What’s your problem with me going?”  
  
Shawn’s eyes widened slightly, and he shook his hands rapidly. “No, no, it’s nothing like that,” he said, trying not to come off as offensive. “It’s just, I’m not sure that you’d be a good idea to bring along, if I’m honest. Especially you, Lily.”  
  
Lily raised her own eyebrow, mirroring Robert, but with an actual fury beginning inside of her. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”  
  
“It means that I’m not sure you’re fast or focused enough,” he said flatly. “Plain and simple. Sorry.”  
  
Lily looked back down at the board game, her face twisting in anger. Robert glanced at her, and looked to Shawn, giving him a look that said “you just fucked up.”  
  
Shawn ran his hand over his face and groaned loudly. “Fine, whatever. You four, get ready to go. Empty out a backpack for each of you, make sure your shoes are tied tight, get any weapons you feel you’re capable with or may need, and be ready in ten minutes.”  
  
  
  
Shawn was sitting at the wheel of the white car with Lee sitting right next to him in the passenger seat. “I don’t know about this,” he said to Lee.  
  
Lee shrugged in response, “Well, you never know. They might be useful. Even if not, it wouldn’t hurt to get more people to be capable of this kind of stuff. We can’t just rely on Seth, Arnold, you, me and Otis. ‘Specially with Otis’s wife bein’ so sensitive and Arnold in the shape he is.”  
  
Soon, Maggie joined them, just on time. She sat right behind Shawn with her empty backpack in her lap. “Seth said we should try to find more knives,” she said out of the blue. Shawn nodded to her in the rear-view mirror, and he looked to the house to see Robert quickly walking to the car, climbing into the seat behind Lee, doing the same as Maggie with his backpack.  
  
“Where’s Lily?” Shawn questioned.  
  
“She’s takin’ a piss,” Robert stated bluntly. Lee smiled to himself and Shawn nodded, an odd expression on his face.  
  
“She couldn’t have done that earlier?”  
  
“Well, if she didn’t do it now, she might do it the first time a walker jumps out at her, and that wouldn’t exactly be convenient.”  
  
Lily came from around the side of the house, zipping up her pants. She got in through the passenger side, pushing Robert into the middle, which was slightly relieving to Robert. Though it was highly unlikely, if the car crashed due to something hitting either side, Robert would have the highest chance of surviving, and that brought him a lot of comfort.  
  
They took off just as a walker approached who had noticed Lily enter the car. It scratched at the trunk of the car as it departed, blowing dust into the poor, undead fool’s face.  
  
From inside, Seth was watching through the window. He felt an awful feeling in the pit of his stomach.  _I should have went,_  he thought to himself.  _But I have to prove myself. Prove that I can be useful, and not just get people killed. Too many people have died under my watch, and that’s going to change. These people can finally look up to me, and Hershel will finally trust me._ Seth didn’t comprehend the amount of respect many people in the group had for him. He was our strongest person physically, and he has helped us survive and adapt tremendously. Without him, we would have no defense, and very little knowledge of many things about the way this new world works. Though he hasn’t exactly proved to be great as a protector, he has been wonderful as a teacher and motivator.  
  
They made it to the supermarket very soon after, and were met with a few walkers as they approached, which were quickly dispatched of within a few shots by Lee and Shawn. Lily attempted it, but missed horribly, instead shooting a stop sign, which made a loud clanging noise.  
  
Before they entered the stores Shawn laid down a plan. They would go in, split into two groups, and explore as two units. Robert smiled to himself, “Well,” he said, “I think there might be a change of plans.”  
  
Shawn lifted a brow at him. “What do you mean?”  
  
“You’ll see.”  
  
They entered together, Shawn first, then Lee, Robert, Maggie, and then Lily. Lee was about to separate the group, him taking Lily, while Shawn took Robert and Maggie, when Robert told them to stop. He lifted his gun and pointed it up to the metallic ceiling, and pulled the trigger, taking everyone off guard, the sound sharp and shrill, almost deafening. Then, a dozen walkers materialized from the aisles, and Shawn realized Robert’s plan, and he smiled to him. “That’s genius, dude,” Shawn said, suddenly feeling better about bringing this group along.  
  
Shawn and Lee dispatched of the nearest, most threatening walkers, and then they focused on trying to teach the other three to shoot. Maggie was quite the natural, taking down three walkers walkers with ease. Robert got the reloading and shooting part down well, but his aim was quite off, and it took him a few tries to put down two walkers. Lily, however, was just all around pretty bad with shooting and Lee and Shawn had to put hers down for her. The best she had managed was getting one in the neck, but that wasn’t enough to take it down.  
  
Slightly frustrated with herself, she holstered her gun and did her best to forget about it. Lee patted her shoulder kindly. “It’s alright. You’ll get better at it,” he smiled to her. “It just takes practice. Besides, now this place is safe. You don’t need it now.”  
  
Lily looked at him, frustration blatant on her expression. “Good,” she said. “I don’t want to shoot ever again.” She detached her gun holster off of her belt and handed it back to Lee, who frowned at her, but nodded understandingly.  
  
Though he wanted to insist that Lily keep the gun, Lee was right. This place was safe. So, instead, Shawn made a new plan. “Since this place is clear, we can all split up solo and get the place covered in half the time. The sooner we get out of here and get the supplies back to the group, the better.  
They all departed, headed to opposite directions. Robert went for the household and medical supplies, Maggie searched the entrance and front counters for reading material and weapons, Lee headed for the foods section to find canned foods and not-yet-expired goods, Shawn went to the vegetables looking for seeds and fertilizer, and Lily went to the refrigerators and the back rooms for supplies employees might have left behind.  
  
Robert’s search proved to be moderately fruitful. He found no peroxide or alcohol, but there were plenty of pills (including aspirin, anti-depressants, and ADHD medication) and bandages, as well as other things such as toilet paper, plastic silverware, paper plates, shampoo, and deodorant.  
  
Maggie found many things that she thought could be useful, such as magazines and small books for when things get boring, cigarettes to trade with other groups, pocket knives, lighters, matches, batteries, a few flashlights, fabric hair ties, rubber bands, and candy.  
  
Lee’s search wasn’t the greatest. He found many canned things, but he was hoping to find other things, such as mostly-fresh bread loaves, but it seemed like the day that this place was abandoned was probably the day before their stock would be replenished. There was very little food at all, and what was left was either moldy or hardened. He did manage to find a very large amount of spices, and enough canned and nonperishable foods to last out the rest of the week, though.  
  
Shawn’s search went about as well as one would expect. Going to the fruit and vegetable section, he was met with a whole lot of nothing and disgusting. Just like Lee had found, it seemed as though the food that expired quickest was looted early, and what was left was shriveled and rotten. He did find many seeds, though, which would make his father very happy.  
  
Lily’s exploration of the store was the most interesting, though. She was in the freezer section looking for things that could still be good, since the electricity was still on here. Looking through, there was still some good sodas and energy drinks, which she put into her bag, thinking they could be useful, and grinning devilishly at the energy drinks. After she put in the freshest drinks, she continued down the freezers, looking at the foods and their expiration dates, when she found something that caught her attention. Faygo. She smiled from ear to ear, and shouted very loudly to the group: “Faygo! Guys, I just found some fucking Faygo!” In the toiletries section, Robert was smiling, shaking his head at her.  
  
She grabbed a few bottles and put them in her bag, as well. She opened one for herself and drank it immediately, not wanting to miss out a second longer on getting her first taste in what felt like ages of her favorite soda. She continued down, and grabbed some frozen meats and cheeses to add to the collection, as well.  
  
When she got to the end of the aisle, there was a fork, forcing her to choose to turn either left or right. To the right was Shawn, inspecting the vegetables and fruits. To the left was an almost-hidden door that lead into a back room. It wasn’t much of a door, though. There were thick plastic strips hanging over a doorway, through which many boxes could faintly be seen. Drinking her Faygo happily, she went inside to the dim room. She looked around for a light and eventually found it by dragging her hands across the wall on a dark wall. In the now way-too-bright room, a desk sat, with many boxes and sacks lying around it, and on the far end of the room was a door.  
  
She went for the desk and pulled out a drawer, and inside was many pens and paper, which she quickly bagged. In the drawer below it was the same thing, and she nearly overlooked it when she thought to look under the paper. Good thing, too. Below the paper was a brown leather holster, with a white handle sticking out. She grabbed it, and examined it, unsheathing the blade. It was a sharp machete with a riveted back side, and had “W.E.” engraved on the lower part of the hilt. She smiled thoughtfully and attached the holster to her pants pocket.  
  
Feeling much stronger and safer, she went to the door and swung it open carelessly. The room was pitch black, and she repeated her last method of using what little light there was to search for a light, and then she ran her hand across the wall. She dragged her hands across a wall to the left of the door, and turned around, repeating the process on the same wall. Unbeknownst to her, something was attracted to the bright light she had just flooding into the room by opening the door in. When she made it back to the doorway, she sighed and turned around, peering into the darkness. Then, two women in blue shirts that read “FOODLAND” in bright red letters on the right side emerged, pale and stumbling. One had a huge hole on her neck, dried blood on her skin and clothes, and clumping parts of her hair.  
  
Panicking, Lily scrambled to get her knife out of its holster. She was afraid of using the knife with two of them in front of her, so close to one another, though. Unable to get it with her fidgety, panicked fingers, Lily cussed under her breath and turned to run away, but she tripped on her bag and her Faygo spilled out onto the floor in front of her, soaking her shirt. She yelled for help, and in an instant one of them fell on top of her and bit into her left shoulder. She wailed in agony, and felt the weight of the other one plummet against her legs, as it too, began to eat, ripping into her right hip. Now, she really wished she hadn't given her gun back.  
  
Shawn came in first, and was shocked to see Lily lying there on the ground, her blood pouring out of her body, mixing in with Faygo that was still dripping out of the bottle and onto the floor. He bit his lip and raised his gun, when Robert and Lee entered. He looked to Robert, and lowered his gun, focusing on the younger boy’s expression.  
  
Going through Robert’s head were many emotions. Loss of the best friend he’s ever had. Agony for witnessing it. Guilt for making everyone let their guards down by drawing out walkers. Fear for the future without her. But most of all, an awful, heavy feeling of suffering for not being able to do anything to help her. On the floor, she was looking at them, her eyes begging, already looking lifeless. She blinked, and attempted to speak, but was too weak to. Robert wiped at tears he didn’t even realize were falling, and he raised his gun. Maggie entered behind them. “What’s going on?” she asked Shawn, who looked to her and shook his head “no,” silencing her as she looked past Lee and Robert’s heads to see Lily, lying on the ground in a puddle of her own blood, with two walkers eating away at her.  
  
First, he killed the walkers with ease, taking each one down with only one bullet each. He approached Lily, who followed him with her eyes. She closed her eyes and clenched her lips, anticipating him to shoot her. Robert cringed, seeing her blood and guts pouring out of her body around her, and her looking so ready to die. The tears fell on like they never had before, and he raised his gun again. Robert was now blubbering as he struggled to see Lily through his tears. She, too, had began crying. He noticed, and closed his eyes and pulled the trigger, hitting her right in the forehead. Robert opened his eyes, making sure he got her, and he did. He fell to his knees and sobbed into her chest, wailing like a small child. He looked at her forehead and saw the wound. “No,” he whispered to himself. “Why?”  
  
He was soon hit by the awful smell of the undead walkers by her, and he angrily pushed himself up to his knees, and began firing wildly into the walkers, hitting each one another five times each before Shawn grabbed him from behind and took the gun, shushing Robert, and bringing him into a hug.  
  
  
  
They left about thirty minutes later, after having a prompt funeral for Lily behind the supermarket. Her body was too gross and mangled for them to easily transport her back, especially since they only brought a car. Robert made sure not to forget Lily’s bag, and the machete she died with. Shawn took the gun, wrapping it in a rag until he could properly clean it. Robert took the machete for himself, and no one argued with him over it.  
  
They made it back to the house with five bags, four people, and buckets of mourning. Lyrik saw them as she was looking through the windows, and held her hand over her mouth. As they made their way to the house, a handful of walkers approached, and Shawn and Maggie took care of them as Lee and Robert carried the bags in.  
  
As they entered, Robert headed for his room, which he shared with Lyrik and Lily. He sighed as he entered and saw her bag full of clothes. In the living room, Lee explained to the group that walkers sneaked up on her and took her down before they could help. A tear formed in Lyrik’s eye, and she ran to her bedroom to talk to Robert.  
  
When she entered, Robert was sitting in Lily's bed, holding the white-handled machete, crying onto it. Lyrik only cried harder as she made her way to him and wrapped her arm around his shoulder. He wiped a tear and looked at her. “Lily was ambushed,” Robert said, “We were foolish. We split up, all five of us. We thought the whole place was safe, and that we’d all be okay on our own. But Lily wandered. She went into a back room, and she just.. went down. There was two of them.”  
  
Robert was bawling once again, struggling to breathe and speak. Lyrik’s tears were beginning to pour, as well. She loved Lily, and they were always having such a great time with each other. But Lyrik was mostly concerned for Robert, because she knew how close the two were, and losing two of his best friends in such a short amount of time was tearing him apart, and she knew it. They both hated the idea of carrying on without her.  
  
Back in the living room, Robert and Lyrik's crying could faintly be heard, and it really set the tone of the whole house: depressing. Seth couldn't help but feel guilty for Lily's death because he refused to go, all because he was afraid of getting more people killed. Maybe if he were there, he could have kept them on their toes. Maybe they would all still be alive. He was finally beginning to see, though, that no one is safe, whether it’s his fault or not.  
  
Seth went to Hershel and volunteered for lookout duty that night, nodded solemnly in response, his mind more focused on Arnold’s well being. Hershel went in to check on him, and found that he was still asleep. He sat next to Arnold’s bed in a chair they had brought in, and opened up to Arnold, half-hoping he wasn’t able to hear him. “Things are rough around here. I don’t know what we’re gonna do about it, either. People just keep on dyin’, and I don’t know what to do. Maybe I can help train them with theirs guns. Keep a better eye on ‘em. I don’t know. And now that you’ve.. been bitten.. I just. I just wish that ever’thing could be easier. I don’t know how we’ve all carried on so casually. Half of Seth’s people are gone, and he’s hardly managing with it. Robert’s pretty much in the same position. Lost two of his best friends. People he’s had around for a long time in his life. We all lost Annette… And I’m afraid that I might die, soon. I’m old, and not exactly a bodybuilder like Seth. If I get cornered, that’s it. And I don’t know what everyone will do if that happens.”  
  
Shocking Hershel, Arnold responded. “It’ll be okay,” he said weakly. “We have strong people here. I know I’m not long for this world, but-”  
Hershel interjected, worriedly, “Arnold, you know I didn’t mean that, I just-”  
  
“Hershel. Stop. I know I’m dyin’. What matters now is keeping everyone prepared and ready to deal with this. Keepin’ everyone together, and functioning. No matter who goes, y’all gotta stay strong. Don’t give up.”  
  
Arnold opened his eyes to look to reassure Hershel, and saw that his uncle was crying. He lamely raised his hand and wiped a tear off Hershel’s cheek, who jumped slightly at the sudden touch. “Go get someone capable to watch over me,” Arnold said. “When I turn, I don’t want no one to get hurt.” Arnold looked into Hershel’s eyes, serious as stone. A last thought, Arnold added, “Do it quietly.” Hershel’s eyes reflected greif. He nodded and rose to his feet, leaving Arnold alone.  
  
Lee entered the room a few minutes later, assigned to watch and put down Arnold should the time come. It was awkward at first trying to talk to one another, as the two weren’t that close, and Lee was there only to kill Arnold when he reanimated, but eventually, Arnold fell asleep, and the awkward small talk was put to death.  
  
The problem with putting Lee on this watch, though, is that besides Seth, he has had the least sleep of all of the members in the group, as he was on watch most often, and ever since losing the farm, he’s only ever gotten about three hours of sleep per night. But when it got quiet, and all he had to keep himself occupied was to watch Arnold get the sleep he himself so desperately desired, he could hardly stand to keep his eyes open. By the time he had awoke, it was too late. Arnold had turned, and was digging into his chest, tearing out organs, and Lee could not speak. He was in agonizing pain, crying wordlessly. He couldn’t even let out a yell, or a scream, or a noise of any sort, and soon he blacked out. The last thing he saw was red, all over him, all over Arnold, all over the room.


	11. Stranger Road

 

Day 22

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
As usual these days, very few people were getting any sleep. Lyrik, Otis, and Shawn were the only ones who got regular sleep tonight, not waking up at all throughout the night. Robert was constantly waking up throughout the night, being awoken by nightmares and noises he was probably imagining. Looking across the room, Lyrik seemed peaceful, and that was horrifying to Robert. It seemed so out of place, so unnatural. He grabbed his new machete and walked to Lyrik’s bed slowly, and quietly. He held his breath as he reached out a hand to touch her neck for a pulse, his other hand drawn back, ready to swing. He pressed three fingers against her neck and felt nothing, and he panicked for a moment, before he finally felt another heartbeat, and another a while later. She was fine. Robert ran his hand across his face and sighed. He felt so stupid. He went back across the room and fell down, lying back in his bed, and he drifted back to sleep, hoping he could finally rest.  
  
Hershel was having an equally difficult time sleeping, for the same reasons. So many things were going through his head, and he knew that soon another of his family would be dead. Things were getting stressful, and there was no way of making it any better. He was staring up at the ceiling, and he felt compelled to speak aloud. Not to himself, but to his wife. He felt as though she were lying next to him, as she had for the last seventeen years. As if she were there for him, as she always had been, to help him. Give him advice, tell him everything was going to be okay. Hershel could feel tears coming, but he fought them back. He sat up, accepting that he wasn’t going to get any rest tonight, and grabbed his Bible off of his bed stand. If anything could keep him level-headed, keep his mind off of sad things, it was the good book.  
  
After reading a few pages, and as the sun started to rise, he began hearing some very faint noises outside of his room. He assumed that it was just someone getting up to go to another person’s room, or perhaps for water, but he wasn’t going to take any chances. He grabbed his rifle and got up to check it. He stepped lightly to his door, and opened it as quietly as possible, which wasn’t very, as the door creaked open loudly in the quiet of the night, like a shotgun in an open field. Looking around, no one was in the hall, and he began to head towards the living room when the sounds started again, this time a bit louder. They were coming from deeper in the hallway. He started his way back down, listening carefully for the source. He made it to the end of the hall and realized that the faint sounds were coming from Arnold’s room. Hershel drew in a deep breath, expecting to find Arnold’s body, a knife shoved into his head, and Lee sobbing over his body. Instead, he was met with nearly the opposite. Lee was on the chair Hershel had sat in, completely dead, blood pouring out of his mouth and neck, unconscious, his weapons still in their holsters. Arnold was on him, eating into his body, a rabid animal. Arnold’s focus is then turned to Hershel, who quickly slams the door closed, panicking.  
  
On the opposite end of the hall, Seth turns the corner and enters the bedrooms hallway. He sees Hershel looking into Arnold’s room, and he was about to call out when Hershel slams the door in panic. He locks eyes with Seth, and he motions him to come over quietly. At the slam, Patricia and Robert peek their heads out of their respective rooms, and Hershel whisper-yells at them to get back in their rooms and make sure that they’re secure.  
  
When Patricia and Robert finally closed their doors, Seth was beside Hershel and he asked what was going when a thud hit the door. Arnold had thrown himself against it, searching for Hershel, craving his flesh. Seth desperately looked to Hershel, realizing what had happened. “Is that..?” he said to Hershel, his voice shaking. “Where’s Lee?”  
  
Hershel looked back and forth between Seth’s eyes and his chest, seeing it rise and lower more and more rapid as time went by, and as he got more upset. “I’m sorry,” was all Hershel could say. Then, Seth busted through the door, and raised his gun, hitting Arnold in the face, sending him backwards a few feet. Horrified at Seth’s sudden, impulsive movement, Hershel hurriedly lifted his gun and shot Arnold dead. Seth quickly noticed the wretched, disgusting mess of organs and blood lying in the chair. Lee’s corpse was sitting there, collapsed in on itself, and his eyes were opening, and he was reanimating. Seth gasped and lowered his gun. Hershel noticed and raised his gun to put him down, thinking that Seth was in too much trauma to do it, but Seth put a hand on Hershel’s arm. He looked to the older man and nodded. Seth slowly raised his gun and aimed it at Lee’s head. Lee’s undead eyes stared back at Seth, almost challenging him to pull the trigger. A single tear rolled down Seth’s cheek and he shot.  
  
It was dead quiet for two whole minutes, people coming out of their rooms with weapons ready, expecting walkers. They saw Hershel and Seth in the doorway, and they lowered their weapons, and gathered around the room, wordlessly taking in the scene ripped straight from a gory horror movie.  
  
  
  
After the silence, everyone had departed to their rooms to pack. There was no way they were going to stay here any more. The tragedies they suffered in such a short time in Albertville were too great, and staying would feel like torture, constant reminders everywhere.  
  
A funeral was held at noon, and Arnold and Lee’s bodies were taken to the back yard and buried next to where the young walker was buried by Seth. They planned to leave right after, so everyone was holding their bags and weapons, ready to go when it was all over. Again, Hershel headed the funeral. Once again, coincidentally, it was a funeral with one of his beloved relatives, and the equivalent of a stranger. No one spoke other than Hershel, who said the same thing he said at the last funeral, with an added, “You will never be forgotten. We love you Arnold.” Seth seemed like he was going to speak, but decided against it.  
  
They turned away from the graves, and went into their cars. The Greenes plus Patricia and Otis got into the van, and Robert, Lyrik, and Seth’s people got into the white car, leaving the blue car behind, though the leftover gas was siphoned out. They drove off, headed westwardly. As they were driving, a voice came over the radio, though it was hard to understand what it was saying through the static. “Anyone.. Nash-.. It’s.. go.. Nashville.” Shawn looked to Hershel, and they turned from going west on the road and went north, headed for Nashville.  
  
  
  
They made it into a watery town about thirty minutes after departing. Lyrik was the only one who paid attention to the sign that they passed when entering city limits, and according to her, the name of the town was Guntersville. “There’s too damn many ‘Villes around here,” Seth said in response. “We need to get out of the south.” The town was like an island, or more accurately a peninsula. There were many large bridges spanning across a large lake surrounding it, and in order to get off the peninsula, they had no choice but to turn around and take a very gas-guzzling detour, or cross one of the bridges. This wouldn’t be a problem, as the bridges seem very sturdy, but three of the four bridges are quite thin and are scary to many of the passengers. The largest one heads directly north, just as they are planning to go, but there are many cars cluttering the way through. They decided to just go to the north one, get out, and clear a path.  
  
They went as far into the mass of cars as they could, weaving between trucks and SUVs carefully, before they had to stop and make a path. Otis, Seth, and Shawn got out to push other vehicles. Seeing them out there as the only ones capable of pushing really hammered in how big the loss of Lee and Arnold was.  _If they were still here, they’d be able to help,_  was a thought going through nearly everyone’s heads.  
  
The three got a van out of the way, which allowed for Hershel and Jessie, who had taken over driving for Seth, to move deeper through the jam. As Seth, Otis, and Shawn turned around to follow the cars and unhinge the next obstacle, a voice behind them shouted, “Freeze!”  
  
Seth whispered under his breath, “Fuck,” and they stopped and lifted their hands compliantly.  
  
“Good,” the voice said. It was clearly a male’s. “Now, put your weapons down. All of them.”  
  
Angrily, Seth reached down for his gun and threw it to his feet. Shawn and Otis did the same.  
  
“If that’s not it, I’m not afraid to shoot,” a woman’s voice said.  
  
“Turn around,” the man said.  
  
The three turned around, finally able to get a look at the menaces. The man didn’t look nearly as tough as he sounded, and was quite thin; very little muscle mass. The woman looked even weaker, holding a gun that looked way too big for her. It appeared to be a fully automatic machine gun, which was quite intimidating to the boys. She had thin, blonde hair up in a bun, and her body was just as thin. She was wearing clothes that seemed to be too big for her, obviously having gone hungry recently.  
  
“We don’t want to hurt you,” said the woman.  
  
“We don’t want to hurt  _you,_ ” echoed Seth cockily.  
  
“Look, we’re not here to kill you, or anyone with you. We will. But that’s only if you don’t listen to us,” the man said, a tinge of fear running through his eyes. He knew he and the woman beside him were greatly outnumbered, but they knew what they needed and wanted, and it seems like they were desperate enough to risk dying for it. “We just need some food. A little fuel, medical supplies, ammo, weapons. Anything that could help.”  
  
Seth smiled at them. “Oh, so you’re just nice people looking for help? Yeah, sure. That’s exactly why you drew guns on us and are threatening me and my people, huh? ‘Cause you’re just lovely folks who need some sugar.” He scoffed at them and quickly grabbed his gun and shot it at the woman, trying to take down the one with the most dangerous weapon, but she dodged it and hid behind a car. The man hid behind another car in the opposite direction, and he began firing it back at Seth, Shawn, and Otis, and they all took cover behind a van. The woman behind the car threw her gun to the ground and cussed, peeking over to make sure that her friend was okay. Luckily for them, they both were unscathed, though deathly scared.  
  
Inside the cars, people were ducking, covering their heads, doing their best to stay out of the windows. The smallest people and those in the front seats tried cramming themselves in the floorboards, and many people would occasionally peek up to see what was happening, like Jessie, Lyrik, Beth, and Patricia.  
  
Then, unexpectedly, a very high voice yelled, “Stop!” The gunfire instantly stopped because it sounded almost like a child’s. It was a child’s. A small white boy with light brown hair exited an RV they had weaved past back down the pile up, and ran for the blonde woman. “Sierra!” he said as he ran to hug her. Sierra quickly grabbed him and pulled him into cover behind her car, scorning him.  
  
“Ron, damn it, didn’t I tell you to stay in the RV! It’s too dangerous out here. Fuck!” she said and looked across the way to the man. He groaned and frustratedly threw his head back. He raised his hands, and Sierra sighed and did the same. Ron raised his hands as well, as a child might do, and Sierra gave him a dirty look.  
  
Seth squinted at the young boy, keeping his gun raised and he thought he had seen a ghost. He was about to yell back to the cars, but it would have been too late. Jessie had gotten out of her seat and ran for the young boy, hysterically screaming, “Ron! My baby, Ron!”  
  
Everyone aside from Seth looked on quizzically, either out of disbelief or confusion. Ron ran past Sierra, who was in shock and let him pass without thinking. She snapped back into reality and chased after Ron, not wanting him to be deceived and hurt. The man looked like he was about to cry, both of joy, and of a twinge of sadness that he may no longer be Ron’s guardian. Jessie and Ron were now hugging in the middle of the road, Sierra feet behind them, awkwardly watching them hug, looking stunned. They hugged for what felt like an eternity, crying and whispering “I love you,” to each other.  
  
They finally pulled apart from one another and looked into each other’s eyes. Reality painted itself back into view, and the stood. Ron waved his hand, gesturing for the man to come over. “Mommy, these are my friends. They helped me out, and took care of me. That’s Sierra,” he said pointing to the blonde, who awkwardly smiled at Jessie, “and that’s Xavier.” The man mirrored Sierra’s expression and waved.  
  
Jessie smiled genuinely back at them, seemingly already forgetting that they held her friends up at gunpoint. She shook their hands and with a big smile, couldn’t stop saying, “Thank you so much. Thank you, really, thank you, you have no idea how much this means to me.”  
  
“Of course, Ms. Anderson,” Xavier said in return.  
  
“Oh, please, really? Just call me Jessie,” she said, smilingly warmly. Sierra smiled back, things not getting any less awkward.  
  
Ron looked up at his mother with desperate eyes and plead, “Mommy, can we please come with you?”  
  
Jessie turned around to look at Seth, who shrugged. Seth turned around as well, to look to Hershel, who looked absolutely dumbfounded. He exited the van and got a good look at them. He bent down to the young boy, looked back up to Sierra and Xavier, and asked the boy, “Do you think these people are good people?”  
  
“Yes, sir,” the small boy tweeted.  
  
“How do you know them?”  
  
“When that one building in Atlantica g-”  
  
“Atlanta,” Jessie and Sierra said at the same time to correct Ron, and looked to one another slightly stunned.  
  
“Yeah!” Ron said, smiling that they both helped him. “Well, when it got destroyed, Sierra and Xavier were there watching over me and my friends, Ethan, Lila, Nellie, Louis, and Eliza. But I don’t know what happened to them. These two other guys were with us, but they got bit…” Ron trailed off.  
  
A few shots then rang with no warning as Seth and Otis had taken down a few stray walkers that were attracted to the gunfire from moments before.  
  
Hershel nodded solemnly to Ron, realizing how awful this world must be to children. “So, young man. You trust them?”  
  
Ron nodded happily. “Yes, sir. I promise,” he said, pointing his pinky at the elderly man.  
  
Hershel smiled and put his pinky out, accepting the promise, shaking fingers with the child. He looked to the two behind the boy and jokingly said, “Well, the man here says you’re all good,” and he smiled at them. “You’re comin’ with us.”  
  
Sierra and Xavier smiled to each other and Xavier tussled Ron’s hair, who looked giddy. Ron led Jessie and the two back to the RV, and said, “Look mom, come see my room.” Sierra and Xavier had obviously been taking turns sleeping on the floor and the couch of the trailer, and they had given Ron the back room for himself.  
  
Hershel and Shawn came up to them a few moments later, and they discussed how they would leave this place. Hershel said that they spotted another RV a little bit in front of where he had parked when they stopped the three they had out pushing, and that they could put all of their gas, plus gas from other cars in the pile up, into the two RVs and leave in those; but to do that, room would have to be made in their RV. Sierra and Xavier looked glumly down to Ron, knowing he would now have to give up, or at least share, his bed. Ron spoke up, “Okay. Mommy, Sierra, Xavier, and I can sleep in that bed!”  
  
Sierra looked to Jessie, who smiled at her. “That sounds fine to me, dear,” Jessie told Ron. Xavier and Sierra looked to one another awkwardly.  
  
Now, the group would be traveling in the two RVs. Jessie, Ron, Sierra, and Xavier stayed in Xavier’s RV, while Hershel, Maggie, and Beth stayed in the other, and everyone else shuffled in between.


	12. Nashville

Day 24 

 

 

 

 

 

The group had been on the road, bunking with the new people, and not having to find houses to stay in anymore. They could finally just blend in, look like abandoned vehicles, and get a good rest without burning precious calories and risking their lives clearing out houses. Of course, there were many drawbacks. With a group this large, things got awkward, and sometimes disgusting. There was very little room to share among themselves, and often they had other people's feet or butts in their face.

Thankfully, it has only been two nights that they have had to put up with this. On this day, things were looking up. All of this gross sleeping together in such close quarters was going to change. Everyone would get their own room, and finally be happy, and maybe even be reunited with friends and family. This would all be over.

They were now about five miles out from Nashville, just passing through a town no one bothered to look at the name for. Rain was pouring outside the windows of the RV, creating a beautiful sound that calmed and soothed certain members of the group. Water hitting against the metallic roof of the vehicle, a familiar sound to the Greenes, Otis, Patricia, and Robert. Reminded them of home; of cold nights in with the family; of the countryside during storms. It was almost magical. In the distance, smoke could faintly be seen through the wet windshield. "Must be nice and warm. Maybe havin' 'em a barbecue," Otis said, half-joking. "Must be a real big one," Patricia added.

At the couch, Shawn, Amanda, and Beth were in the middle of a conversation.

"Wait, you used weed?" Beth asked, amazed.

"Yup. Crack, too. Even heroin and meth. But it's nothing to brag about, girl. That shit fucks you up."

Shawn rolled his eyes. "Alright, fine. But what made you stop?"

"Well, it was Erin. She and I were friends, long before all this started. She really helped me out. I was in a bad crowd. Lots of assholes and addicts," Amanda trailed off for a second, looking at her hands, looking at scars on her wrists from years ago. "What got me was this one night, I.. my boyfriend at the time, he was throwing a party. I was there, and so were all the cool people in my school. And all of the addicts. Was a great party. But, my boyfriend, he was really pushing me. He got me to take a cocktail of drugs and alcohol all mixed together. I don't know how he got me to do it, but he did. I passed out, and I guess one of the kids saw me and called Erin, 'cause they knew we were friends. She came over and helped me, when no one else would. Got me into rehab, got me all clean. God, I wish she was still here. She's the only reason I am."

Shawn looked on, feeling ashamed for asking. "I'm sorry for-"

"Don't be," she said. "I'm just glad I could finally get it off my chest."

Beth looked like she was about to cry, and reached over the table to give her a big hug. "No one should have to go through somethin' like that. I'm so sorry" Amanda returned the hug and smiled. These were good people.

 

 

In the other RV, Xavier decided to let Seth drive, as he had been quite nice to him, along with the fact that he was tired of always driving this hunk of junk. Now, Xavier and Sierra were lying in the bed with Robert and Lyrik talking about the world, while Jessie and Ron sat up front playing with the boy's toys.

"Yeah, I kinda used to be a model," Sierra said. "I didn't get a lot of work near the end, before this all started, but y'know. I was happy."

"I could totally see that," Lyrik said.

"Right?" Robert said. "She looks like a mix between Hayden Panettiere and Dakota Fanning."

Sierra laugh happily, blushing slightly. "Thanks, I guess."

Robert nodded to her, smiling. "Well, what did you do?" he asked Xavier.

"Uh, well. I was an actor. Not a great one, obviously, but I got as much work as I could."

"Oh, so is that how you two know each other?" Lyrik asked.

"Yeah," Xavier said, glancing to Sierra and awkwardly looking away when their eyes met. "Um," he paused. Robert and Lyrik smiled to each other, delighting in the two's mannerisms. "My manager was really pushing for professional shots - photos, I mean. And he set me up with one of Atlanta's most respected photographers, and apparently Sierra was there working with him that day. Originally, we were both going to have separate photoshoots, but the photographer thought we were a cute couple, so he made us pose together. One of the pictures we took together actually ended up on a magazine. From there, we just, you know. Started hanging out. Became really close."

"Okay, so, are you two a thing or what?" Robert asked, feeling almost thrilled to finally be able to gossip again. It made things seem almost normal. God, did he miss this.

Sierra laughed to herself and looked to Xavier, inaudibly telling him to tell the story.

"Well, not anymore," he said coyly.

Lyrik playfully gasped. "I told you so! You owe me five bullets, Robert," she said, making them all laughed.

"No," Sierra said. "We're not a thing. But we used to be. We broke up just a little while before this all started. It's just a sick twist of fate that we were both given kid-watching duty in Atlanta when the shit hit the fan at our refuge."

"I'll say," Xavier nodded.

"So, is that how you guys wound up with Ron?" Lyrik asked.

"Yeah," Xavier said and grew quiet, more serious. "There were others, too. Some we had, some we didn't. There was six kids we were watching at the time, but there were many more throughout the place, but most of them were with their parents, so I can only hope they made it," Xavier paused, looking out the wet window at the passing scenery of cars crashed in ditches, walkers eating things on the sides of the road, and what looked to be another group of survivors at one point, but they all went into the woods before Xavier could register it. He looked back to everyone and caught his train of thought. "We lost this pair of siblings. Names were Eliza and Louis, but we're pretty sure they made it to their parents. There were two other little girls and a boy, though. Nellie, Ethan, and Lila. Ethan and Lila died to the herd that attacked, and Nellie was bitten during it. She, uh. She turned the next morning and we had to put her down in front of Ron. God, that was hard to explain. Hard enough to explain that we didn't know where his mom was." Xavier seemed to be on the verge of tears, and Sierra put a hand on his shoulder.

After a few moments of slightly awkward silence, Sierra looked to Robert and Lyrik, and said with playfulness returning to her voice, "So what about you two? Are you guys a thing?"

Lyrik and Robert looked to each other and laughed loudly. "Yeah, girl," Lyrik said, still laughing. "Me and this boy are in  _love_ , makin' babies an' shit."

Robert laughed even harder. After a few moments, he finally stopped laughing and was able to speak. "No," he said. "For one, I'm gay. For two, her? Really? She's  _unbearable!"_

Lyrik scoffed playfully and smiled to Sierra. "Doesn't mean I'm not a good catch, though. And neither's Robert over here, huh Xavier? Huh?" Lyrik said, vocally nudging Xavier's shoulder.

Xavier chuckled lowly and awkwardly. "Nah," he said. "I don't swing that way. Not that there's anything wrong with it, though! It's just, you know, not for me."

Robert was smiling at Xavier, but when he said that, Robert was hit with the thought that he may never see another gay guy again. The people here could be the only people he ever sees again. Realizing he was being watched stare off into the distance, he quickly thought of a retort. "We'll see about that. Change your mind, you call me first, baby."

Xavier laughed, attempting to think of something to say back, but the RV suddenly stopped, flinging everyone forward. "What the hell, Hershel?!" Seth yelled from the driver's seat.

In the front RV, Hershel was forced to put a sudden halt to the trip, interrupting everything going on in both of the vehicles and nearly causing Seth to crash right into the back of the leading RV. In front of them, a large mass of walkers was visible. The smoke was now clarified to be the city of Nashville, aflame and destroyed, in cinders and ruin, painting a devastating background behind the herd as rain poured down heavily onto it all. Many gasps were heard, and Hershel looked horrified. For him, this cemented that there was no safety. There was no sanctuary. Maggie put a hand on his shoulder, sadly looking at the destruction.

Hershel kissed his daughter's hand and composed himself. "I'm sorry, everyone," he said to those in his RV. "I thought we would finally be safe. I guess I was wrong."

Patricia, Amanda, Otis, and Beth looked coldly at the remains of the city as Hershel made a u-turn, taking the group away from the awful scene. The rain seemed the intensify, the sound growing louder. It looked as if they may never catch a break.


	13. Fingers

Day 31 

 

 

 

 

 

It had been a week since the group found Nashville burned to cinders, walkers riddling the streets. The group had been on the road a lot, trying to find a permanent, steady shelter. So far, they had found very little, other than some supplies and a ton of walkers. They had found many new, great weapons, and even an old map that came in very useful. After inspecting it many times, Patricia discovered that they weren't far from a national park in Missouri, the Mark Twain National Forest. There were many residences there, and it was a pretty open area where things could be pretty easily managed, very similar to Hershel's farm. Getting there was proving to be quite difficult, however, as they constantly kept reading the map wrong, or the paths would be blocked off by massive pile ups of cars or crashes of trains or tankers, or bridges would be out and they would have to take a detour.

Today, they were in a small town in south-eastern Missouri called Hayti. They were set up in a barn that they had set tents u around and used the RVs as a barricade. However, one of the RVs was currently gone, as a few members were on a run. Robert, Xavier, Seth, Maggie, and Otis had went out to scavenge for food and supplies when they stumbled upon an armory in a police department that had been untouched. In it was an armada of weapons: nightsticks, bats, an array of guns and ammunition, bullet-proof vests, pepper spray, whistles, and a few riot shields, but for some reason all of the riot gear was gone. Xavier assumed that the people who worked here took it out, responding to a mass emergency and not knowing they were walking into a party of reanimated corpses.

Beth had noticed how strong those around her were, or were becoming, and she didn't want to fall behind, or to be a liability, and she knew she could. She asked to be trained with the new weapons so that she would become less of a liability to the group, and no one was going to argue with her. Having more capable people is not a thing to be upset about.

Seth, Xavier, and Sierra handled weapons training, transporting the group of learners to the abandoned police department to practice on dummies and use the firing range. Robert, Lyrik, Patricia, Beth, and Amanda were the trainees. Robert had gotten pretty good at shooting and using his machete, but he wasn't going to miss any opportunities to get better. Amanda was a pretty good shot, but she never really had many chances to use any weapons, and she didn't want to lose what little skill she had. Lyrik, Patricia, and Beth, however, had hardly even held a weapon, let alone used it.

"Wait, so, where do I look?" Lyrik asked Seth who was helping her shoot. To her left, Robert was firing off shots, getting a few headshots. He had improved greatly since he first started. Amanda was on Lyrik's right side, struggling nearly as much as Lyrik was. She used to be better, but that was when she was about ten and her dad would take her out to the woods to shoot at squirrels.

"Where you plan to shoot, duh," Seth said to her.

"Oh my god, no, but like, how do I aim? Like, where do I look?"

"Okay, well, focus on the gun. The 'proper' way to do it is to look at the gun and not what you're aiming at. That little notch in the middle indicates any aim shift."

"Aim shift?"

"Uh, it's like, if the notch is higher than the two there, that means the bullet goes higher. If it's a bit to the left, the bullet shoots a bit to the left. See, with this one, the notch is a bit above them when you look at it like this. So, aim slightly lower than what you're trying to hit."

"Okay," Lyrik said, taking aim. She put her finger around the trigger and shot, a loud bang firing through the room. She jumped back, not expecting the gun to fire so easily, as the bullet went straight through the cut-out's shoulder. Realizing what she had done, she jumped up and down giddily. She grabbed Seth's hands and continued bouncing, happily yelling "I did it! I did it, I did it, I did it!"

Seth smiled at her, amused by her childishness. "Did you aim for the shoulder?" he asked.

"No," she said, still smiling. "But I hit it!"

Seth half-frowned at her. "Lyrik," he said, sighing. "Good job hitting it, but that's not something to celebrate about just yet. If you were trying to defend yourself against a walker and you got it in the neck, would you be celebrating about that like you just did? Just that you hit it."

Lyrik gave him a dirty look, feeling robbed of her joy. "Excuse me, sir, but that's not what's going on right now. Of course I wouldn't celebrate like that out there. But we're in a nice, safe place in this moment, and I'm happy that I'm making progress in shooting. Jesus," she said, rolling her eyes. She put her gun back up before Seth could reply and shot, hitting the cut-out right in the left eye. She looked back to Seth sassily, her face telling him to suck it. He half-smiled at her, embarrassed and blushing, feeling like a total jerk.

Xavier was currently helping Patricia and Beth with hitting walkers with knives and other melee weapons. Sierra was taking a break in the corner of the room cleaning her too-large machine gun. They were in a room that looked like a training room for a martial arts room, large dummies spaced evenly apart from one another.

"I know you girls know how to cook," he said, "but that's not what these knives are for. This is much different. Ideally, you're going to want your blades - or any sharp weapons, I guess - to be as sharp as you can get them. Any chance you get, sharpen them. Keep them clean, too, just in case you need to use them for something else that they'd need to be sanitary for, such as cutting food, or killing an animal to eat. You don't want to waste food by slicing walker guts into it like that, do you? Anyways, sorry. Show me what you've got."

"What a monologue," Sierra said as Patricia and Beth ungracefully began weaving through the dummies, attacking them like children playing with toy swords.

Xavier shook his head, appearing frustrated, but actually struggling to keep from laughing. "Stop!" he yelled, startling the two. Slightly startled, Beth tripped and fell forward, dropping her knife. The knife, sharp as a butcher's cleaver, fell to the floor and cut off the pinky and ring finger on her left hand at the knuckles. She screamed in pain and confusion, not understanding what had just happened, blood gushing all over her as she instinctively clutched it, staining her dull yellow shirt, squirting onto her neck and chin.

Everyone in the room audibly gasped as they realized what was happening. Patricia ran to her and grabbed Beth's hand. "Xavier," she yelled, ripping off a large part of her dress and wrapping it onto Beth's hand, "get over here and put pressure on this! Sierra, help me find something to get these fingers into." She handed the hand off to Xavier and grabbed up the fingers, running to the door where her bag was. In it was a little bit of alcohol. She looked back and said shakily, "It'll be okay, Beth, you just hold tight."

Sierra had ran out of the room and to the firing range. "Seth! Get everyone out here and help me find something cold! Ice, cold water, anything! Beth cut off some of her fingers!  _Hurry!"_

Everyone quickly holstered their guns and threw their loose ammo into the gun bag by the door. They searched the department, looking for a working tap or a fridge. They had spent about three minutes searching before Lyrik had found a fridge, but there was just some rotten lunch in a paper bag with the name James written on it and a few cans of cream soda. After, the group came to the conclusion that there was nothing here they could use and Patricia ordered everyone to get in the RV they had brought to quickly get them back to the group so that she and Hershel could reattach the fingers.

Beth was slouching on her side in the couch, hyperventilating and panicking. "Do you think she'll make it?" Lyrik asked.

"Well, she'll obviously make it," Patricia said condescendingly. "The question is whether or not her fingers will make it. If we had something to keep them cold, so long as we got back to Hershel within twelve hours, we'd be good. But we don't have that luxury, so all we can do is hope."

Xavier was quickly driving along the road through the small town, trying to get back to their camp set up in a barn outside of town. However, they were halted. A large mass of walkers was coming their way, and if they stayed where they were, their RV might be trampled right over. "Does anyone know another way to the barn?" Xavier asked, swinging the RV around sharply.

"I dunno," Seth said, "why? What are you doing, dude?!"

"Well, not to alarm anyone, but there's a huge herd between us and the road to the barn, and it's coming our way. For now, I'd be more worried about the people we left at the camp."

Sierra seemed very anxious, and worriedly said, "That herd could have swept over the barn and either killed them or separated them. If we're lucky, that herd came from another direction."

Robert dumbfoundedly looked to them. "Herd? What's that supposed to mean?"

Xavier half-frowned to Robert. "It's when a bunch of walkers converge. They have, like, a hive mind. They move as one. When one hears a gunshot, all of them follow. It's devastating."

Everyone in the group looked on worriedly and prayed that everything would be okay.

Beth screamed in agony, reminding everyone of the dire situation. Patricia bent on her knees, doing her best to reduce Beth's pain and keep her calm. Amanda looked down at the wet paper towel she was told to hold and unwrapped it slightly to look at the fingers. They were beginning to turn purple, and Amanda held her breath, waiting for Patricia to leave Beth's side, so that Beth wouldn't panic any more than she has.

Sitting next to Xavier in the passenger seat, Robert was trying to direct him with their map. "Turn left down 4th Street! It'll put us on a path to a highway and we can swing back around to the barn."

They kept driving and turned onto the highway that Robert had pointed out, but were met with the herd. It was much larger than they had expected. "Get down!" Xavier said, turning off the RV and ducking into the floorboard.

"What?!" Robert said, following Xavier's lead.

"We don't have a choice," Xavier whispered. "Everyone get your weapons at the ready. Beth, I'm sorry about this. If you have to scream, grab a pillow."

Everyone ducked down low, closing curtains and staying low under windows that it was too late to close. If they were lucky, they hadn't been spotted.

Soon, they could be heard. The moans and bumps of the undead were horrifying. Their groans were awful, and they could be felt falling against the RV or scratching on it occasionally. Some of the survivors inside held their breath, some of them cried, others braced themselves, clutching their knives and guns.

It felt like a year of tense silence, but after about two hours, the noises died down, signalling that the herd had nearly passed. In that silence, Amanda had witnessed the fingers turn darker and begin to smell. When the herd had finally thinned, Amanda signalled Patricia over and subtly showed her the fingers. Patricia looked devastated, and looked to Beth, who had fallen asleep. Patricia shook her head, clarifying that the fingers would not be able to be reattached. She took them and put them on a cabinet across from the couch and went back to keep an eye on Beth. When Xavier was certain that they could move once more, he started up the RV and made a U-turn, headed back into town for the quicker way to the barn.

They arrived to see that the camp was completely untouched, everyone doing their normal business as though everything was fine. Everyone in the RV breathed a collective sigh of relief that the herd had come from another direction. Patricia and Lyrik ran to Hershel, who had just come out of the barn looking very confused, with a drowsy Beth. They laid her down on a hay bale with a sheet over it, Patricia explaining the whole time what had happened. She shoved out her fist, a paper towel in it. Hershel, looking shocked and worried, hesitantly took the paper towel and unrolled it, met with two fingers turning an unnatural color. Beth was thankfully asleep again when he had to say, "There's no way we can reattach these."

"Well, you need to help her no matter what!" Patricia said to Hershel. "Sew her up, clean the wounds as best you can, do anything and everything!"

Hershel nodded, quickly getting to work. Thankfully, Beth was out cold, so she wasn't awake to feel the pain or scream. He worked tirelessly and dutifully with the help of Patricia and Lyrik, with Robert, Sierra, Xavier, Jessie, Maggie, and Amanda watching closely, hoping to learn tips and things about how to handle situations like this.

An hour of tense waiting later and Hershel announced to the group the progress that had been made. "The fingers were sewed up well," Hershel said. "I'm sure she'll make a full recovery. Well, as full as you could expect," he told the group.  _Of course, anything could happen,_  he thought to himself.  _It always seems to, these days._


	14. Mark Twain National Forest

Day 33

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


The group had spent another day at the barn on the outskirts of Hayti, just to make sure that Beth would be ready and able to go.  Of course, with her hand a huge ball of bandages, she wouldn’t be much help either way, but there’s no good in bringing someone unfit to travel, especially if they’re in screaming agony.  Thankfully, she was doing very well on this day, and they decided they would leave immediately.

They made it to a perfect area in the park about four hours later, around 1 in the afternoon.  It was a house in the middle of the forest, a few meters from a small river, and it was in the middle of a clearing, where the sides of the forest could be seen for about half a mile out all around the house.

Robert, Xavier, Seth, and Sierra went inside to clear out the house, but found nothing.  The whole house seemed to be completely intact, no signs of scavengers raiding it or even the people who lived here leaving it.  Family photos were still in place above the fireplace and along the hallway.  A jewelry box found in the master bedroom seemed to be untouched, stocked full of necklaces, earrings, and bracelets.  “The residents must have been out when this all started,” Robert said, he and Sierra trying on some of the jewelry.  “Maybe they were on vacation.”  While trying on the jewelry, Robert looked at himself in the mirror.  His facial hair was growing in and it was rough.  It had been bugging him a lot over the past few days, being unused to the prickly hair.  God, I hope this house has razors in it somewhere, he thought.  Seth, Xavier, and Shawn look a bit overdue for a shave, as well.

“Or just at the store a few miles back.  At work.  Maybe picking up their kids from daycare.  Who knows,” Seth said.

“Or they’re still alive,” Xavier said forebodingly.

The house was moderately small, but it had two stories and a basement.  Thankfully, the living room and the bedrooms were very large, and provided sufficient space for everyone to stay in comfortably.

The yard was odd, though; the fence formed a right triangle around the house, with the side to the east having the farthest point, and three small buildings lining it.  One was a tool shed, another was a chicken coop, and the farthest one was a small barn where hay, seeds, and animal food was kept.  The fence surround the yard was tin beginning to rust, small streaks of reddish-brown spaced out along it.  On the hypotenuse side to the northwest was a pre-plowed garden, with neglected plants growing, moderately drooping.  Thankfully, it rained enough around here that watering it wasn’t necessary, and when it wasn’t raining, there was plentiful sunlight.

Further exploring the less likely nooks and crannies (just in case; after Arnold, being too safe wasn’t a thing) Seth opened the fridge to find tons of rotten food, creating a foul, awful odor that made him gag.  “Well,” he yelled to Xavier, “whoever lived here is definitely gone.  Or a fuckin’ slob,” he finished, gagging once more before slamming the fridge shut.  He hesitantly opened the deep freeze, not wanting to be confronted with such an awful stench, but not wanting to leave any stone unturned.  There were many things frozen inside, such as bagged chicken, ground beef, harvested vegetables, and some lunch meats.  He smiled, checking the expiration dates and determining that most of the food inside was still good thanks to the added lifeline of being frozen.

The four took their findings back to Hershel, who had kept the group outside of the RVs, ready to fight or defend should they be needed, with Patricia, Lyrik, Jessie, Ron, and Beth still inside the vehicles to help anyone who got injured.  They said that the place checks out, and that they found many things that the group could use, including fresh changes of clothes and the actually edible meat.  Hershel smiled happily and they began to unpack their meager belongings from the RVs to settle into their new home.  Hopefully this time they could find peace.


	15. El Río

Day 35

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


The house had been quite nice to live in.  It had a beautiful front porch where they liked to have breakfasts.  They had really enjoyed having more meat in them, as well.  It had been a few weeks since they had last had meat before now.

Everyone got rooms and roommates they were happy with.  Sierra and Amanda bunked in one room; Hershel and Maggie shared the biggest room; Robert, Lyrik, and Xavier shared a room; Shawn and Beth stayed together; Otis and Patricia got their own room; and Seth decided to stay with Jessie and Ron.  There was one extra room, but everyone was too scared to sleep in a room alone.

Two days after arriving, Patricia and Otis went to the river to check how clean the water looked.  They wouldn’t trust it at all without boiling it first, but it did seem to be clear enough for them to wash their clothes in.  They headed back for people to help them take their old clothes out and wash them.  Later, they planned for everyone to bathe in the river if this proved to be a good.  Obviously, they wouldn’t all bathe at once, but they also would not have anyone go alone.

Jessie and Lyrik volunteered to help out with washing, and everyone aside from Jessie, who was refusing to learn how to shoot, took a gun with them.  Now that Jessie had her son, she believed that shooting, especially at strangers, was the worst thing you could do, and that she would never fire another gun again.  Despite many members of the group constantly reminding her that the gun is only for protection, she still refused to take or use a gun.

At the river, the four were washing the laundry, making small talk.

“And how Sierra and Xavier called walkers ‘D.K.s’?” Otis said.  “I actually thought that was pretty cool, though.”

“So did I,” Patricia said.  “I like the different names people have for them.  Allison called them lurkers once.”

“Yeah,” Jessie said, half-frowning to herself.  She wanted to change the subject to avoid getting sad about Erin.  She remembered the razors Robert had found and asked, “Otis, why didn’t you shave with the other guys?”

“I dunno,” he said.  “I think I look kinda good with a bit of a beard, don’t y’all?  Hershel, too.”

Patricia laughed and reached over to put her arm around his shoulder and kissed him.  “I think you look ‘kinda good’ any way, Otis.  Hershel, too.”  Everyone laughed.

“God, I can’t believe what those other fools look like now,” Lyrik said.

“Tell me about it,” Patricia said, laughing.  “Seth looks the weirdest.”

Jessie hummed an mm-hm.  “I can’t believe how much of a difference shaving can make in a guy’s appearance.”

“Well, at least some of them still look pretty cute,” Lyrik said.  “Like Xavier.  Yes, ma’am, he looks good.”

Everyone laughed at Lyrik.  The air of the group slowly dissipated, and just as Otis was about to speak, hoping to change the subject from gossiping about cute boys, voices could be heard in the distance.  What they were saying was very hard to determine.  Jessie and Patricia quickly gathered up the clothes in the stream and put them in their baskets, making an attempt to run back to the house.  As they got up, Patricia grabbed her gun out of her pocket and put it on top of the clothes in her basket, ready to shoot just in case.  Otis and Lyrik stayed behind, their guns pointed at the now moderately-visible figures.  It appeared to be a group of five, and they could faintly be seen through the thick brush of the forest.  They had large backpacks, and some were in clothes stained with blood.  Though they looked like a very troubled group, they still seemed moderately happy.  As they got closer and their voices got louder and what they were saying was more clear.  “I think they’re speaking Mexican,” Otis said.

“Spanish, you mean?”

“Whatever.  It’s not English.”

As the group came through the thick forest, a very thin boy pointed Otis and Lyrik out, and they all drew their guns.  The scene was very much like an unfair Mexican standoff, both groups on opposite sides of a river.  A woman in the front of the group who appeared to be the leader spoke up.  “Hola,” she said calmly.

“No habla español,” Lyrik said.

“Okay, sorry,” the woman said in reply.  “Um, what’s this?” she asked.  Soon, she noticed movement by a house in the distance, and it appeared that people were lining up along the fence of it with sniper rifles.  “Put down your guns,” she quickly said to her people in Spanish.

“Why?” asked a short, blonde girl.  The leader pointed over Otis and Lyrik’s heads to the house where the group had their guns trained on the Spanish survivors.  The members of the group immediately put down their guns, other than the blonde, who put hers down hesitantly after everyone else had.  When she finally did, she looked very angry, as though she were a child in time-out.

“No more Spanish,” Otis said.  “We don’t need y’all keepin’ secrets, makin’ plans right in our face.”

“Now, cross the stream,” Lyrik said, her voice shaking slightly.

“You want us to just trudge through this water?” the leader said, looking a bit offended.

“Well, if you don’t want to get wet, find another way around,” Lyrik said.

Otis looked to her as if she were making a mistake.  “Keep your hands up the whole time, though,” he said.

The group trekked down stream, finding a part where the river thinned and they could easily jump across.  Lyrik and Otis kept their guns trained on them all as they made their way across the river.  The woman made it to them and introduced herself as Selenis.  Her companions were a fat man named Gabriel, a thin teenager named Oscar, the blonde mouthy girl as Abi-Maria, and a very beautiful though short brunette as Shakira.  “No relation,” she said after getting an inquisitive look from Lyrik.  All of them were clearly Latino, and apparently fluent in Spanish.

“Mr. Garza?” Lyrik asked, awestruck, to the fat man.

He squinted, and then his eyes grew very large.  “Lyrik?”

Lyrik kept her gun up, but awkwardly smiled at him.  “Uh, hi.”

Otis took the weapons they had and Hershel came out to them, followed Xavier, Seth, and Shawn who were armed to the teeth, and the wall of snipers still in action.  The Hispanic group kept their hands up, ready to be spoken to.  “So, you haven’t fired at my group,” Hershel said.  “You haven’t tried anything to resist.  I’m going to assume you’re good people.  But you need to answer to me.  Where did you come from, where were you going, and what do you want?”

“What do we want?” Abi-Maria yelled.  “You stopped us!”

Selenis looked to her, giving her a death glare and checking around for any incoming walkers.  Just as she expected, a few materialized from the woods.  “Mirónes!” she said to her group, who turned to the walkers, or mirónes as they called them, lifted their guns, and opened fire, all of them going down with nearly only one shot per walker.

Seth whistled, impressed.  “Hersh, you gotta let these guys join us.  We need that kind of firepower.”

The fiery blonde Latina turned to Seth, looking angry as ever.  “What makes you think we want to join your little group?” she said, her accent noticeably thick.

“Well,” the fat man apparently named Gabriel spoke up, “staying in one place for a while wouldn’t be the worst thing.”

Selenis and Shakira nodded their heads.  Abi-Maria crossed her arms angrily and continued trying to convince her group to move on.  “Fine, let’s stay here with these complete strangers and let them kill us in our sleep.”

“Abi, we’re all strangers.  Stop it right now.”  Selenis turned to Hershel, “So, can we stay?  Promise I’ll keep an eye on this one here for you,” she said, pointing to Abi-Maria, who angrily gasped.

Hershel turned to his people.  Seth and Otis shrugged, Lyrik and Shawn nodded, and Xavier shook his head no.  “They may be kind of useful, but I don’t trust that mouthy one.”

Hershel nodded and turned back to Selenis and her group.  “Well, so long as you don’t make trouble.  But if any of you hurt any of my family, my people, in any way, we are not afraid to kick you out, or kill you if it comes to it.”

The group of five nodded understandably, aside from Abi-Maria, of course.  Hershel narrowed his eyes at her and she groaned, “Sí, I get it.”

Hershel led the group back, with the same gut feeling he had about letting in the past two groups.  Those two groups had proved to be good people, though, so he brushed off the feeling.  ‘Third time’s the charm’ is just a dumb old saying, right?


	16. Friendly

Day 37

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


The new group seemed to be great, all but the obvious one being very friendly.  Selenis and Gabriel seemed to be the nicest, with Oscar and Shakira seeming to mostly keep to themselves, like shy children.  Abi-Maria stayed to herself, as well, but she literally stayed to herself.  No one spent any time with her, and when they did, she would either complain or insult them.  To her group, she tried to convince them that it was time they got moving.  She would taunt and tease some people of Hershel’s group.  Originally, she tried to convince a few of them - namely Robert, Xavier, Sierra, Jessie, Patricia, and Beth - that they should leave with her and her group, often promising things way too great to be real, such as a huge, safe community up north, and reunion with people they had lost.

It was really quite pathetic.  Even the people she had been traveling with had grown to hate her and spent as little time as possible with her.  She absolutely hated it here, and loathed the thought of staying here with a bunch of hillbillies - or ‘heelbeellies’ as she called them.  She hated Otis, Shawn, and Hershel the most.  They were three hicks that she didn’t want to spend five minutes, let alone eternity, with.

Lyrik had realized that Gabriel was in fact her and Robert’s old Spanish teacher from Hobbs.  “So, how did you get here?” Robert had asked him, the three of them eating breakfast on the front porch.

“Well, back in Hobbs, things quickly fell apart.  Marina,” his wife, “and I got out of there with Emilia - you know, Ms. Navarette - and we made it to a survivor refuge set up by the government in Lubbock.”

“So, you were in Hobbs when it happened?” Lyrik asked, curious about the state it and others were in.

“Yeah, I was.  I saw a lot of people die before I left, though,” Gabriel said sadly.

“I know it’s hard to think about, maybe even to remember, but,” Robert said hesitantly, “do you remember seeing anything?  People we know getting out, or even dying?  Or getting bit?”

“Um,” Gabriel began.  “I know I saw LaRissa’s parents die.  They got devoured.  Mya got out with her parents and little brother, but I think her dad was bitten.  Ryan and Tanner got out with their parents.  Anastasia’s parents died, but I know she made it out with some of her friends.  I think maybe her brother, too.  I know she had Skyler with her.  Lily’s dad got out.  Robert, I’m sorry, but I think your mom died.  I don’t know what happened to your dad.  Lyrik, I didn’t see any of your family.  I saw Terry and Kerry’s whole family die, along with a lot of the elementary-age kids.  They were in Walmart and a lot of walkers were on the way, and somehow the whole place went up in flames.  Hundreds of people must have died there.  It was awful to watch,” Gabriel said, drifting off.

He was obviously haunted by these things.  They couldn’t imagine what it must have been like for him.  Robert slightly regretted asking about it, and was tempted to apologize, but there was no reason to.  He was just thankful that he knew how things turned out.  “So, you were saying?  About Lubbock?”

“Right.  Lubbock.  That’s where Marina, Emilia, and I met Selenis, Oscar, and Shakira.  We left a few days before it was apparently destroyed, because we went back and it was in ruins.  Us and about seven other people made it out of Texas, and we met Abi-Maria and one of her friends not long after.  We stayed with another group of people, but we found out they were murdering innocent people they met, for no reason.  We tried to escape, but they killed my wife and a few friends of ours.  We barely made it out, and we’ve been on foot ever since, sleeping in small houses or making little camps at night.  Everyone else died as we made it this way.  How did you guys get here?”

“Well,” Lyrik started, “it was kinda my idea.  Not sure how smart it was, though, thinking back on it now.”

“Lyrik planned for me, her, Lily, and LaRissa to have a senior trip.  We left like a week before this all started.  We were in Georgia when it happened, and we met Hershel and his family.  Then we met Seth and some of his friends, and he was followed by people he had apparently stolen from.  They burned down Hershel’s farm, and forced us out onto the road.  We were constantly traveling ever since, and we met Xavier and Sierra, and they had apparently taken care of one of Seth’s people’s kids.  Ron in there.  They were at the same refugee camp Jessie was in, and they were the babysitters.  They took care of Ron ever since the place was overrun.”

“Wow,” Gabriel said.  “I guess we’ve all been through a lot, huh?”

“Yeah,” Lyrik said.

“So, where are Lily and LaRissa?” Gabriel asked casually, and regretted it instantly when he saw their reactions.  “Oh, no,” he said.  “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Robert said as Lyrik grabbed his hand to comfort him.  “We’re not the only ones who lost people.  You lost your wife.”

Gabriel solemnly nodded his head.  “I did,” he paused, and thought back to it.  “She was shot right in the back, trying to help one of our friends who had been shot in the ankle.  I had no choice but to leave her.  I still wonder sometimes, what if I had gone back?  She could have made it.  I was so selfish.”

Robert stared blankly at Gabriel, understanding the pain.  “You can’t blame yourself,” Lyrik said.  Gabriel wiped a tear from his eye and looked down to his food.  He wasn’t hungry anymore.

“LaRissa was the first to go,” Robert said, blankly looking into the woods behind Gabriel’s head.  “Some jackass basically threw her to walkers.  Let them bite her.”

“But he sacrificed himself to them right after,” Lyrik said.  “So that we could escape safely.”

Robert stayed silent for a few more moments as Gabriel and Lyrik sadly looked on.  “Lily died about three weeks later.  We went scavenging in a supermarket, and we made the mistake of all splitting up.  Solo.  Lily was attacked by two walkers.  She died with this,” Robert said, pulling his white-handled machete out of the holster he never took off.  “She found it in there, and tried to use it to kill the walkers, but I dunno.  I guess she just couldn’t get it.  So I put her down, and I took the knife for myself.”

Gabriel nodded his head and pulled out a pistol from his holster.  He turned it around so Robert could see it had a pink trigger.  “Marina found this in the armory of the place we were staying.  She used it to kill her first walker.  She put it in my bag when we escaped.  ‘For just in case,’ she said.  Now it’s the only pistol I use.  Gave mine to Oscar.”

Robert smiled slightly to Gabriel.  “Recycling,” he called it.  “I think that’s beautiful.”

Lyrik smiled, and jokingly said, “When you die, Robert, I’ll take your machete and that semi-auto you always carry around.  Recycling!”

Robert and Gabriel laughed.  “That sure is comforting,” Robert said, smiling.  “That’s dark, bitch.”

“Is that a black joke?” Lyrik said, and they all shared a laugh.


	17. After

Day 45

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Over the last ten days, things had been going just about as well as would be expected.  Abi-Maria brought in a lot of drama for a while, but then seemed to have just given up.  Everyone else carried on as usual all throughout it.  Beth’s fingers had healed to the point that touching them no longer hurts, but she still had to keep it wrapped while the skin healed back.  Selenis had been given a lot of trust in leading a scavenging group a few days ago, and it went successfully.  They had found many supplies in a town about seven miles south of them named Bunker, and even scouted out a few places around it in case something went wrong.

Abi-Maria had seemed to be keeping to herself for the past few days, and everyone had assumed that she had given up.  That is, until she began stealing and breaking things that belonged to people in her group and blaming it on the people she despised.  She broke the glass of a photograph on one of Oscar’s pictures of his family, ripped a hole in Shakira’s favorite sweater, and stole Gabriel’s pink-triggered pistol and Selenis’s makeup box.  They found the gun and makeup box hidden behind a few bales of hay in the barn, and the glass fragments from Oscar’s photo in the trash can in the basement, where the group stayed.  She tried framing Hershel and his people, but she was doing it so carelessly and obviously.

“Hershel, I know you don’t believe in killing people like that,” Selenis told Hershel, the two sitting privately in the room he shared with Maggie, who was currently in Shawn and Beth’s room, “and neither do I, but we have to do something.  I thought once she realized that none of us wanted to go with her she would just leave on her own, or give up and become a part of the group, but apparently I was wrong.  I’m afraid of what she’ll do if we keep her around any longer.”

Hershel looked grimly at Selenis.  “I know she’s dangerous,” he said hesitantly, “but is there any chance she could change?  We can’t just throw her to the walkers, and I certainly won’t have her killed,” he said firmly, clenching a fist at the thought of killing another living being.

“I don’t think we have much of a choice, Hershel.  I’ve known her long enough to know that when she thinks something, when she’s truly set on it, she’ll do whatever it takes to get her way.  You can try to talk her down all you want, but she just won’t get how wrong she is.  She’s like a wolf desperate for food, even if that means killing her own.  I would know,” she said, drifting off.

Hershel worriedly stared at her.  “Has she.. has she killed her own?”

Selenis looked into his eyes, silently conveying that she had.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes,” she said.  The middle-aged woman was hoping she wouldn’t have to say it, but it now appeared that she must.  “We met her with this girl she apparently grew up with.  Her name was Rosa.  A week after they joined our group, she shot Esmeralda in cold blood after a huge argument about whether or not we should leave that place we were in.  Esmeralda may have been on a side that promoted, or more accurately just turning a blind eye to, killing of innocent people for survival, but Abi-Maria actually did it.  She just took her down, right in the middle of their arguing.  And when she was asked about it by Oscar later, we thought she was gonna kill him, too.  She even said that Esmeralda was a huge bitch, and that she didn’t regret it at all.”

Hershel looked into her eyes in fear.  “I guess we have to get her out of here, then.  Do you know how, though?”

“I have an idea.  There was this town we scavenged a while back.  The one you made me lead at.  Bunker.  We could tell her we’re going on another run.  Pack her some supplies, fix up a car we find out there, and eventually break it to her that she’s out of the group.  Leave her with the supplies and car and she’ll go on alone.  She’s strong enough to survive on her own.  She’ll probably find other people, they might be like her.”

Hershel nodded his head.  “Alright,” he said.  “Let’s get this show on the road, then.  I want to do this as soon as possible.”

The two left the room, and Selenis winked at Gabriel, signalling that the plan was in action.  They went downstairs to the basement and began to pack Abi-Maria’s stuff while she was in the bathroom, along with a bit of food and medical supplies.  When they were done, Gabriel sat in the living room as though he had no idea what was going on and Selenis waited outside of the bathroom for Abi-Maria.  When she exited, Selenis told her in Spanish, “I know you don’t want to be around them, but you better get ready.  We’re going on a run, and I want you to come with us.  Me, Hershel, Gabriel, and you.  Maybe some others that Hershel wants to bring.”

Abi-Maria looked both angry and slightly puzzled.  “Hershel’s going?”

“Well, he is the leader, after all.  He just wants to finally feel like one.”

“It’s about fucking time he pulled some weight around here.”

“You’ve been whining, crying, bitching, and sleeping in this room for ten days straight.  Shut the fuck up.”

Hershel came down the stairs and listened.  “Still speaking in Spanish?  Not hiding any secrets, are you?”

“Sorry, Hershel,” Selenis said.  Abi-Maria rolled her eyes, picked up her gun, and headed upstairs to wait at the door.  Selenis and Hershel followed her up.  “Come on, Gabe,” Selenis said, and Gabriel pushed himself up, slightly struggling to stand.

As they were going out the door, Maggie came down the stairs.  “Daddy?  Where are you going?”

“Sorry, dear.  I almost forgot to tell you.  I’m going on a run.  We’ll be back in a few hours.”

“With them?” Maggie asked, looking to the three Mexicans.  “Alone?  Are you sure, Daddy?”

“Yes, dear, everything’s fine.”

“But,” Maggie began, looking right to Abi-Maria, who immediately scoffed when she realized what Maggie had implied.  “Daddy, I don’t care what you say, I’m coming with you.”

“Well, alright,” Hershel said, not wanting to argue too much.  Selenis and Abi-Maria speaking in Spanish made him a little bit nervous that they could have been plotting against him, and he took comfort in knowing he’d have someone he trusted with him, even though it was his daughter, who he wanted to stay at the house, safe.  He yelled into the kitchen where Patricia and Robert were making dinner, “We’re going on a run.  We’ll be back in a couple hours.”

“Okay,” Patricia and Robert said in unison, then looked to each other, confused that Hershel was going.  Patricia nodded her head to Robert, gesturing for him to go ask about the situation.

Robert ended up with the same story Maggie was told, and when he offered to go, Hershel made a strong, resounding “No, damn it,” that he was not about to argue with.  Hershel made an apologetic look after yelling at Robert, who nodded nervously in return.  He felt guilty about yelling, but he knew Robert could take it.  He just didn’t want too many people put at risk, and not everyone needed to know what they planned to do to Abi-Maria.

The five got into Hershel’s RV, and he drove into Bunker.  Just outside of town, a van that looked to be in pretty good condition, though a bit dusty, was parked on the side of the road.  The group got out and took down a few walkers around it.  Gabriel got to work immediately after the walkers were taken care of.  “Why the hell are we on the side of the road, fucking with an ugly old van?” Abi-Maria asked, complaining as always.

“Well, we can’t always use the RVs,” Selenis said.  “They aren’t very practical for runs like this, now are they?”

Abi-Maria rolled her eyes and watched as Gabriel tweaked with the van.  Hershel finally got the van to start up, and he went into the RV with Maggie.  Gabriel pretended that he still had to work on the van while Hershel was in the vehicle explaining what this run was really about to Maggie.  She nodded, and finally understood.  They exited the RV, Maggie carrying the bag they had packed for Abi-Maria.

“What the fuck is this?” Abi-Maria said in Spanish to Selenis.

“This,” Selenis said in English, “is where we give you the news.  As of today, you are no longer a member of this group.  You’ve caused too much trouble and pain, and you obviously don’t want to be there.  So now you get your wish.  You get to leave.  We packed you a bag with all of your things in it plus some food and medicine to help you survive.”

“This is bullshit, are you kidding me?” Abi-Maria said angrily.  She grabbed her bag and began crying, but she still looked more angry than sad.  “Are there any tissues in here?”

“There are rags,” Hershel told her.

Abi-Maria opened the bag and began looking, pretending she was looking for the rags, but actually looking for a gun.  Grabbing the one in her holster now would be too obvious, so she had to make use of the bag.  Her finger slid against something metal, and she smiled slightly to herself.  She quickly pulled it out and began firing it.  Panicked, Selenis took cover behind a large rock as Gabriel ran off into the woods in the direction of the road back to the house.  Maggie and Hershel attempted to run for the van, but Abi-Maria shot Maggie in the leg, causing her to double over in pain.  “Maggie!” Hershel yelled,  stopping to attempt to help her stand.  “Come on, baby,” he said, bringing her to one knee.  He wasn’t going to leave his daughter, his flesh and blood.  He was trying his hardest to get his daughter up and to safety, and if he were strong enough, he would have just picked her up and carried her.

Behind the rock, Selenis had her gun and was firing it at Abi-Maria, who was now taking cover behind the van.  As Selenis shot again, she got Abi-Maria in the left shoulder after she had shot Maggie’s leg, causing her to scream in pain and fall back behind the van.  After a few minutes of peace, Selenis considered leaving cover and going to make sure Abi-Maria was dead, hearing Hershel scream for his daughter and attempted to help her, when suddenly another shot rang and a loud thud hit against the RV.  Hershel had been shot right in the chest, and had fallen over dead onto the side of the vehicle.  Maggie screamed as his dead corpse fell on top of her.  Luckily, his body shielded her from further bullets from Abi-Maria.  Selenis realized as the gunshot was becoming slightly softer than Abi-Maria was running away, into the woods.  Selenis peaked past the rock just in time to see Abi-Maria engulfed by the trees, wearing the backpack they had packed for her, her left shoulder sloppily bandaged and obviously bleeding a lot. She had left the van behind running south, closer to Bunker.

Selenis raised from her position, firing a few parting shots in Abi-Maria’s direction, and ran to see what had happened.  Gabriel was nowhere to be seen.  Around the side of the RV, she was shocked to see two lifeless bodies.  “Hershel,” Selenis said, her voice quivering.  “Maggie…”  Selenis dropped to her knees.  This was all a huge mistake.

“Help!” a small, muffled voice said underneath Hershel’s body.  Maggie’s alive!  Selenis happily thought as she rolled Hershel’s body off of Maggie, who was bleeding profusely from the right leg.  Selenis helped Maggie to her feet, and they struggled into the RV.  Selenis laid her down on the couch.  “My daddy,” Maggie said.  “Please tell me he’s still alive.  Still breathing.  Has a pulse.  Answer me, damn it!”  Selenis sadly looked away from Maggie, and the incapacitated girl began crying violently.  “Stop it!  He’s okay!  He’s going to be okay!”  Selenis solemnly stayed quiet, doing her best to disinfect and wrap Maggie’s wound.  “Get him.  Go get him.  We need to take him back.  Get him help.”

“Bury him,” Selenis stated.  “We’ll see what help we can get him, if any, but I don’t want you getting your hopes up.  He’s dead, Maggie.  We’re going to take him back to bury him.”

Maggie lifted her arm and sobbed into it, weeping desperately.  Selenis finished treating the wound and stood up.  She looked down at Maggie sadly and exited the vehicle, dragging Hershel’s lifeless body into the RV, onto the floor in front of the couch Maggie was lying on.  Maggie grimly looked down at her father, speaking to him quietly, searching hopelessly for a response.

Selenis wordlessly went to the driver’s seat, started up the RV, and drove back to the house.

Not ten minutes later, Selenis spotted a large figure on the side of the road, headed towards the house.  It was Gabriel.  She pulled over the RV.  “What’s going on?” Maggie asked as Selenis opened the door to let Gabriel in.  He was smiling happily to her, not knowing how darkly things had turned out.  He thought that everyone was fine.  That no one had died, at least.  As he entered, he nearly stepped on Hershel’s hand, and he saw the tragedy that had happened to the father and daughter.  Selenis went straight back to the driver’s seat, remaining silent.  Gabriel sat in the passenger seat next to her.  He didn’t push her to talk.  He knew Selenis.  When she was ready, or when she needed to, she would speak.  They quietly drove back home.

About a mile out, Hershel began to move, and Maggie screamed happily, scaring Selenis, and making her drive off the road, shaking everyone up.  Selenis and Gabriel got whiplash, and Maggie had fallen on top of her father and was hugging him gleefully, crying into his chest.  She looked up at him with a huge smile to see that he had turned.  He was a walker.  Maggie’s smile flipped.  Her world crashed down around her.  Not only was her father dead, he was a walker, too.  She rolled off of him and pushed him back.  He began crawling near her as she bawled, her hands over her head in shock and sorrow.  Seeing her dad like this, for such a dumb reason, for a reason that could have just been taken care of some way else, was the worst thing that could happen to her.  She though about how alone she was now.  As her undead father came closer, she began to give up.  She reached out her left hand, giving Hershel what he wanted.  If he wanted her to turn so badly, she was going to give her dad one last wish, even if he was no longer truly himself.  He chomped down onto her hand, digging into the flesh and bone, blood splattering around, and Maggie screamed in pain.

Then, a deafening bang went off, amplified by the metal on the walls and the enclosed room.  Selenis had put down Hershel, and she went to Maggie to checking her.  Her hand was a mangled, disgusting mess.  “Fuck,” Selenis said.  She looked back to Gabriel and began to take off her belt and she put it around Maggie’s arm.

Gabriel looked at her in shock.  “Are we really going to try that?” he said, sounding very panicked.

“I don’t think we have much of a choice.  Honestly, what have we- what does she have to lose?” Selenis said, her face looking as unsure as Gabriel’s.  “Get me something we can do this with.”

Gabriel got out of his seat and looked through his bag and handed her an ax, coming around to also put the wooden handle of a knife into Maggie’s mouth.  “Bite down if it hurts, and do your best not to flinch, please.  We don’t want anything to- well, just don’t flinch,” Gabriel told Maggie, looking very nervous.  He got behind her and held onto her, bracing her for what was to come.

Maggie began to panic, not knowing what they were planning.  In an instant, Selenis swung her ax down on Maggie’s hand, severing it halfway through the wrist.  Maggie screamed hysterically, biting into the wooden handle as Gabriel did his best to hold her and keep her still.  Selenis swung once more, hoping to finish off the job, but because of Maggie’s panic, her aim was slightly off and it only went a few inches deeper.  “Maggie, calm down,” she said.  Selenis took one final swing, and the hand came off.  Gabriel immediately began cleaning up after her, attempting to stop the bleeding.  Selenis threw the hand out the window and quickly got back to driving to get Maggie to better help with Patricia.

They drove up into the yard, parking as close to the house as possible, and Selenis quickly ran in to get people outside to help.  Gabriel picked up Maggie, using one hand to hold a once-white sheet over her arm, and began to carry her inside.  He was met halfway to the door by Seth, Shawn, Patricia, Robert, and Lyrik, led by Selenis.  Seth and Shawn took Maggie from Gabriel, and they carried her into the living room and onto the couch.  Patricia bent over her and with the help of Robert and Lyrik, they stopped the bleeding and did their best to sew it up as best they could.

Much of the group sat at the kitchen table looking confused at first, creating a familiar scene, but then they realized that it was Maggie and that she had been injured, and they did their best to help, fetching towels and water and other such things for Patricia.  “Where’s Hershel?!” Patricia asked, swamped.

Selenis was reminded of what had happened, and she grew silent once more.  Gabriel whispered to Patricia that he had been killed, and Shawn went outside to the RV to check for him, where he found Hershel dead, blood all over the RV, and a gunshot right through his head.  Shawn began crying and clenched his fists.  He stormed back into the house and punched Selenis right in the face, Gabriel being too far away, and she fell to her knees.  “You killed my father!”  Selenis looked up at him in shock, and rose back up, punching Shawn in the face, and they began to wrestle, punching, kicking, and biting.  Seth and Gabriel finally managed to broke it up and they both had bruises on them.  Shawn had a black eye, and Selenis had bruises beginning to form on her cheek, and scratches and more bruises were scattered across their bodies.

“I didn’t kill your dad!” Selenis said, spitting at Shawn, who furiously threw another punch in response, and Seth tried to hold him back, but he managed to get Selenis right in the nose.  “You motherfucker!” she yelled, and Gabriel and Seth struggled to keep them off of each other as they resisted once more.

“Fucking stop it!” Seth screamed, pushing Shawn into a wall and turning to do the same to Selenis.  “Now both of you assholes calm down and explain what happened, civilly.”

Selenis took a deep breath, and decided to just say it.  “We were kicking Abi-Maria out of the group.  Me, Gabriel, Hershel, and Maggie went to go leave her in Bunker.  But when we told her, she tricked us by looking through the bag of supplies we gave her, pulling out a gun, shooting Maggie in the leg, and then killing Hershel.  She meant to kill all of us, but she got them.”

“And why the fuck is that?!” Shawn asked angrily.

“I don’t know!  To be honest, they didn’t make the smartest move.  Gabriel ran into the woods, I hid behind a large nearby rock, and they tried to run a good thirty feet to get to the RV.”

“So you’re saying it’s their fault?!” Shawn questioned, absolutely furious.

“Would you please take this somewhere else?!” Patricia asked, trying to concentrate and keep Maggie calm.

“No,” Selenis said.  “I’m saying it’s my fault.  I should have pulled them behind the rock, or helped them more somehow.”

“You’re damn right it’s your fault!  Yours, too, Gabriel!  Pussying out like that, really?  Fuck you both!  My dad’s dead because of you assholes!”

“I’m sorry,” Selenis said.

“Stop that,” Seth said.  “That could have been anyone, Shawn.  It wasn’t their fault.  It was fuckin’ Abi-Maria.  Fuck that bitch, not this one.”

Hesitant to speak, Lyrik, who was helping with Maggie, asked, “Um, but what happened to Maggie?  You said she got shot in the leg, but that’s already been doctored.  What happened to her arm?”

Selenis grimly turned to her and spoke with solemn seriousness.  “When Hershel died, he turned.  And he wasn’t even bit.  We’ve all seen walkers around that hadn’t been bit, right?  Well, I think I know why.  When you die, no matter how you die, you come back.”

Everyone looked on, horrified.  Shawn worriedly looked up to Seth, who was still holding him.  Seth let go, his mouth open in disbelief.  “You’re lying, aren’t you?” Seth asked.

“You think so?  Go look at Hershel’s body.  Does that just look like death to you?  Like he hadn’t turned?  You know how Maggie lost her hand?  Hershel bit it off.  And we amputated it to save her.”

Shawn looked like he was about to punch her again.  “You amputated her arm?  Are you fucking crazy?!”

“No,” Selenis said.  “We’ve met people who survived like that.  In that place we were at, where we escaped from.  Some of the people there had survived walker bites through immediate amputation.”

“Well, you better fucking hope it works, or I’m going to kill you for both of their deaths,” Shawn warned.

Selenis and Gabriel nodded grimly, hoping to whatever gods may be out there that this worked.  Not just for their sake, but for everyone’s.


End file.
